There are about 63,000 primary total knee replacements done annually in England and Wales. One of the biggest challenges of modern NHS is to ensure high quality care for the patients. A reduced length of stay in the hospital following primary total knee replacements could be the key factor in significant cost reduction.

The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of our rapid recovery programme following total knee replacements in terms of reducing length of stay, morbidity, complications, and readmissions rates.

A prospective study of 252 patients who underwent primary total knee replacement for a period of one year between October 2006 to 2007 were included in the programme. There were 123 (49%) males and 129 (51%)females. The average age was 71 (range-53 to 86). The average BMI was 30 (range-22 to 46). The median ASA grade was 2 (range-1 to 4). There were no exclusion criteria. The programme included pre-operative education of patient and relatives, standardised operation protocols, infection control, pain management, continuous motivation by nursing staff and physiotherapists in the ward as well as intensive rehabilitation by a community based physiotherapy team in patient’s own environment. The patients were discharged when they had achieved the ward physiotherapy requirements.

The average length of stay was 5.2 days. The complications encountered during inpatient stay was wound discharge(43), surgical site infection(1), DVT (1), pneumonia(1).12 patients needed post operative blood transfusion. The readmissions rate was 4%. Deep infection was noted in 4 patients, DVT(1), pulmonary embolism(1)and 3 patients had medical complications.

In conclusion the rapid recovery programme following total knee replacement is an efficient method of speeding the recovery and reducing the length of hospital stay after primary knee replacements. It is useful for the modern NHS to achieve a balance between financial savings and a consistent, responsive and high-quality care for patients.