National 'hip register' call

There are dozens of different hip joints on the market

A House of Commons committee wants a register carrying details of every hip replacement operation.

It says this would help provide more rigorous monitoring of the 30,000 operations carried out each year.

The MPs who make up the Public Accounts Committee say there are concerns about the long-term effectiveness of some implants, quality of care and access to treatment.

Any register would allow, they say, the comparison of different surgeons, hospitals and types of replacement hip joint.

The NHS spends approximately £140m a year offering hip replacements, the vast majority to older people whose existing joint has failed.

Committee chairman David Davis MP said: "Most patients who have a hip replacement operation receive an excellent service, but poor performance can have a serious impact on them.

'Consistent care'

"Better information on the effectiveness of different types of hip implant and on the performance of consultants, together with the eradication of variations in access to treatment, would do much more to make the standard of care more consistent."

He said the register would simplify the process should the recipients of defective artificial hips have to be recalled for another operation.

There are approximately 70 different varieties of hip replacement joint available in the UK - and the cost of an operation can vary from just over £1,000 to as much as £9,000, depending on the hospital involved.

There are wide variations in the cost of artificial hip joints, and the government advisory body the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has already evaluated their effectiveness and decided which ones offer best value for money.

It claimed that its advice, if followed, could save the NHS £8m a year.

Medical research

Medical research charity, Action Research, welcomed the call for a national register.

A spokesperson for the charity, which helped to develop the UK's first artificial hip surgery, agreed that steps need to be taken in helping to reduce the financial and physical cost of many secondary operations.

The charity is funding a work by researchers in Leeds who are investigating how much the 'swing phase' of walking can wear down the hip joint.

Utilising specially-created hip joint simulators, the results might highlight the benefits of different materials, and lead to recommendations to improve surgical techniques or design.

Professor John Fisher, of the University of Leeds, said: "High wear can cause failure of the hip joint after 10 to 20 years, and this remains a major concern - particularly for younger patients with osteoarthritis who require hip replacement surgery."