The number of clinical negligence claims in the UK is constantly increasing. As a specialty, trauma and orthopaedic surgery has one of the highest numbers of negligence claims. 1. This study analyses NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) claims in trauma and orthopaedics between 2004 and 2014. . A formal request was made to the NHSLA under the Freedom of Information Act in order to obtain all data related to claims against orthopaedic surgery. It was found that the number of claims, and percentage of successful claims, has been constantly increasing over this period, with compensation paid of over £349 million.* Errors in clinical management accounted for the highest number of closed claims (2933 claims), costing over £119 million.*. The level of compensation paid out has a significant financial impact on the NHS. Reforms need to be made in order to tackle the high cost of legal fees generated by these claims, which further drain the limited resources available to the NHS

Introduction. It was the purpose to evaluate the biomechanical changes that occur after optimal and non-optimal component placement of a hip resurfacing (SRA) by using a subject specific musculoskeletal model based on CT-scan data. Materials and Methods. Nineteen hips from 11 cadavers were resurfaced with a BHR using a femoral navigation system. CT images were acquired before and after surgery. Grey-value segmentation in Mimics produced contours representing the bone geometry and identifying the outlines of the 3 parts of the gluteus medius. The anatomical changes induced by the procedure were characterised by the translation of the hip joint center (HJCR) with respect to the pelvic and femoral bone. The contact forces during normal gait with ‘optimal’ component placement were calculated for a cement mantle of 3 mm, a socket inclination of 45° and anteversion of 15°. The biomechanical effect of ‘non-optimal placement’ was simulated by varying the positioning of the components. Results. There was a significant (p<0.01) shortening of the muscle length with the ‘optimal’ component placement for all parts of the gluteus medius with the largest shortening of the posterior part by 6mm. This was caused by a significant shortening of the femoral offset by 2.3mm (p<0.01). Because of a significant (p<0.01) medialisation of the HJCR by 4 mm, there was no significant increase in contact force. The hip joint contact forces increased by 0.5% per mm HJCR displacement. Each millimeter of cranial and lateral displacement of the femoral HJCR increased the contact force by 0.5% and 1%, respectively. The contact stresses changed significantly by 0.8% and 0.2% per degree of socket inclination and anteversion. The contact force increased 1% per mm lateral displacement of the acetabular HJCR. Discussion. Optimal placement of the SRA components did not completely restore the biomechanics of the native hip joint. The contact forces were not increased due to the compensatory effect of the medialisation of the acetabular HJCR. This suggests that reaming to the acetabular floor should be conducted in SRA. Femoral component displacement in the cranial and lateral direction significantly increased the hip joint loading. Errors of socket placement in the coronal and sagital plane significantly increased the contact stresses. Accumulative errors of both component displacements could lead to increased contact stresses of 18% to 23% with socket inclinations of 50° and 55°. Surgeons should reconsider continuing the SRA procedure if a neck length loss and lateralisation of the HCJR by >5 mm is anticipated as this would increase the contact stresses by >12%

Aims

The PROximal Fracture of the Humerus Evaluation by Randomisation (PROFHER) randomised clinical trial compared the operative and non-operative treatment of adults with a displaced fracture of the proximal humerus involving the surgical neck. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term treatment effects beyond the two-year follow-up.