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FAQ - How long will I be in hospital?
This varies quite a bit from individual to individual, and depends primarily on the procedure being undertaken. Hip or knee arthroscopy can be done as a day case or with at most an overnight stay. Some hip resurfacing patients have made it out in as little as 2 or 3 days.
The average for resurfacing and knee replacement is around 5 days and for conventional total hip replacement the figure is around 6 or 7 days. [These figures relate to my own practice and are not necessarily representative of other surgeons]
Apart from the procedure being undertaken, the other factors determining hospital stay are i) general fitness and ii) motivation or personality. General fitness varies most with age, but one does see remarkable exceptions!
Motivation and personality are the aspects most difficult to define and predict. Highly strung, nervous and introspective patients tend to take longer to get going and therefore be confident enough to leave hospital.
Outside the UK , very short hospital stay figures are often quoted.
Recognise, however, that most of the time the patient is being discharged to a nearby hotel room or other step-down facility, where they are visited 2 or 3 times a day by a specially trained nurse. This is not the same as sending the patient home!
So, if you want to get home quickly, you should be fit and have a positive attitude. You should be determined to get up out of bed early on in your recovery and start walking, even if this means some discomfort. You should be pushing the physiotherapist to let you do more, not the other way around!
At the end of the day, also appreciate that it is not a race. It is nice to go home early, but no-one will judge you if you are only 'average'.
Be assured also that we will NOT molly-coddle you. If we think you are being unusually precious or timid, we will (hopefully diplomatically!), tell you. Please appreciate that we do this because it is in your own best interests to get going to prevent complications
