‘We’ve got to catch up’: inside an NHS hospital battling a long waiting list
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor from on (#5P1CE)
University College hospital allows access to its new facility and staff to show how the health service is trying to tackle backlogs
Perfect," says Seana Ruddick. Her single word tells the surgeon Sam Oussedik that the robot-assisted knee replacement he is performing is going well. He is removing the joint using a combination of old-school tools - a hammer and chisel - and cutting-edge technology - the saw blade of a Mako robot. It is a noisy and smelly process. Viewing is not for the weak of stomach.
Ruddick, a Mako specialist, is Oussedik's guide as he works in an operating theatre in one of the five below-ground levels of the Grafton Way Building, a 13-storey new extension to University College hospital in central London.
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