Home sooner, recovering better: Redesigning hip and knee surgery

More than 200,000 hip and knee replacements are performed annually in the U.K., with an average hospital stay of 2.7 days. These surgical procedures are typically recommended only after conservative treatments such as physiotherapy, weight loss, and medications have proven ineffective. Healthcare systems are now focusing on optimizing surgical protocols to enable patients to return home sooner while maintaining quality recovery outcomes. This redesign of hip and knee replacement procedures aims to reduce hospital stays, lower healthcare costs, and improve patient satisfaction by implementing enhanced recovery techniques and streamlined post-operative care pathways.