How effective is our current Orthopaedic Prioritisation Tool for scoring patients for arthroplasty surgery?

To compare those patients who are being accepted onto the waiting list for total hip and knee arthroplasty surgery with those patients who are being declined surgery, using a validated functional questionnaire.

The clinic records from all patients seen for consideration of total hip or knee arthroplasty at Hawkes Bay Hospital during the preceding four months were reviewed. We sent the Oxford Hip and Knee Score questionnaire to all patients who had been put forward for consideration of surgery.

Of the 150 patients we surveyed, 81 had been accepted onto the waiting list and received a date for surgery within the next four months and 69 had been declined surgery. Of the 81 patients who had been accepted onto the waiting list for surgery, 61 returned the Oxford questionnaire with an average score of 10.9. Of the 69 patients who had been declined surgery, 59 returned the Oxford questionnaire with an average score of 10.8. Thus the mean Oxford score was not statistically different between those patients being accepted onto the waiting list for surgery and those being declined surgery (p=0.925).

No difference was found between those patients being accepted onto the waiting list for total hip or knee arthroplasty and those being declined surgery in Hawkes Bay after using the Oxford Hip and Knee Score as a measure of functional impairment. The average Oxford score indicates that patients being seen in Hawkes Bay Hospital for consideration of total hip or knee arthroplasty are severely functionally impaired as a result of their condition.