According to a report by Millennium Research Group in January 2011, the US orthopaedic extremity device market will generate over $4.6 billion in revenue by 2015. 1. With an ageing demographic and increasing demand for better quality of life into old age, there is clearly a commercial drive for the orthopaedic device community to develop new and innovative solutions to bone and joint problems. Devising such solutions is one thing; protecting them, so that research investment can be rewarded, is another. How is such protection achieved? The judicious use of intellectual property rights plays a key role, and this article aims to provide some information about the use of patents to protect innovation

The global economy has been facing a financial crisis. Healthcare costs are spiraling, and there is a projected £30 billion health funding gap by 2020 in the UK.¹ This has prompted a drive for efficiency in healthcare provision in the UK, and in 2012, the Health and Social Care Act was introduced, heralding a fundamental change to the structure of the National Health Service, especially in the way that healthcare is funded in England.²

What is happening in the UK is a reflection of a global problem. Rationing of healthcare is a topic of much discussion; as unless spending is capped, providing healthcare will become unsustainable. Who decides how money is spent, and which services should be rationed?

In this article we aim to discuss the impact that rationing may have on orthopaedic surgery, and we will discuss our own experiences of attempts to ration local services.³ We also seek to inform and educate the general orthopaedic community on this topic.