It is recognised that health and care systems are undergoing transformative global change to adapt to the needs of patients and communities, with increasing pressure to be financially, socially and environmentally sustainable. Appraising the sustainability of care pathways is seen as a crucial step to enabling a more sustainable health system.
Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA), or total hip replacement, is a highly successful surgical procedure that replaces a damaged or diseased hip joint with artificial prosthetic components to relieve pain and restore function. 116,901 primary THA surgeries were recorded as being performed in the UK-based National Joint Registry during 2024 and demand for THA surgery continues to grow. With such a high volume of procedures being delivered, even small sustainability improvements can have large-scale impact. Alongside clinical choices on implants and surgical processes, patient’s length of stay, overall readmission rates and re-operation rates can each have contributory significance to sustainability and performance measures.
This case study was commissioned by Coalition member, Johnson & Johnson and uses a high-level care pathway appraisal approach to show how an objective understanding of hip replacement products, assessed in the context of the care pathway they support, can have a positive sustainability impact.