Donation ensures hip surgery return in Horsham

Grampians Health has heralded the return of fractured hip surgery to its Horsham campus thanks to a strong collaboration of services and a substantial donation from Wimmera Health Care Group Foundation.

The return is likely to halve the amount of hip surgery patients travelling from the region to Ballarat. The significant milestone has been made possible through strong collaboration across surgical, anaesthetic, medical, nursing, allied health and quality teams in Ballarat and Horsham.

The WHCG Foundation contribution has purchased almost $100,000 worth of equipment required for the procedures including a Fracture Extension Table, Dynamic Hip Screw Instrument Sets, a Cordless Wire Driver, a Universal Small Fragment Set and a Variable Angle Distal Radius Set.

Hip fractures, or more specifically Neck of Femur fractures, are a serious and life-threatening injury, most commonly affecting older adults and often reflecting underlying frailty. Patients are over 3.5 times more likely to die within 12 months compared to those without a fracture and frequently experience complications that prolong recovery and hospital stay. Importantly, the burden is greater for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Bringing surgery back to Horsham means many patients can now receive care closer to home - supporting better recovery, connection to community, and continuity of care.

Dr Subodh Srivastava, the orthopaedic surgeon facilitating fractured hip surgeries in Horsham, said he was very grateful to the Horsham community organisations, who helped ensure he could perform surgeries with the best possible equipment.

“With the ankle and wrist surgery equipment we had already received, we have been able to perform surgery for several patients already which has been good because it has meant they didn’t need to travel,” Dr Subodh said

“Now the neck of femur fracture surgery equipment has arrived, and our surgery team is all trained up and ready to go,” he said.

“So if a patient comes in on the weekend or Monday, we will be able to operate on them in Horsham because hip fracture patients need surgery within two days of their break."

Horsham Operating Suite nurse unit manager David Fogarty said the breakthrough would make a big difference to patients from the Horsham region.

“In the past 12 months about 60 patients presented at Horsham Emergency Department with a fractured hip and all had to be transferred to Ballarat which would be a very uncomfortable ride,” Mr Fogarty said.

“Now we hope to be able to perform a healthy amount of those operations in Horsham and we are extremely grateful to the Foundation for helping us to make that happen.”

“The hip fracture surgery is a major operation and we won’t be able to do all of the surgeries in Horsham but we will certainly do as many as we possibly can in our three allotted days,” Dr Subodh said.

WHCG Foundation Director David Johns said the Foundation was very happy to support all units of the hospital.

“We are very much about providing equipment that helps prevent Wimmera people travelling to Ballarat and getting their treatment closer to home,” Mr Johns said.

“We are always looking to purchase items specific to providing care in Horsham. The Foundation has contributed over $1.4 million toward projects for the Horsham and Dimboola campuses since it began in 1989.”

Grampians Health acting Chief Operations Officer Patriece Shelly said the reintroduction of hip surgeries to Horsham was a significant milestone for the local community in continuing to provide patient care closer to home.

“The appointment last year of Dr Subodh and his wife Chhavi, who is the anaesthetist for almost all of his surgeries, has been a major step forward in strengthening Horsham’s surgical workforce,” Ms Shelly said.

“Securing the required equipment through the generous support of the WHCG Foundation has enabled this project to become a reality.”

“It is a great example of Grampians Health working with our community in delivering care that is responsive to local community needs.”