A failing system -'orthopaedic services in the NHS 2001-2003'

摘要

In March 2001, 237 BOA linkmen were sent a questionnaire entitled 'OPEN' (Orthopaedics, Priorities, Ethics and Numbers).This comprised a series of questions relevant to current orthopaedic practice in their hospital. A hundred linkmen fully completed the questionnaire.The questionnaire was reissued in slightly abbreviated form in 2002 and 2003 to the same 100 linkmen who covered hospitals in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, allowing a comparison of the difficulties experienced by orthopaedic units over this period. Since the same pertinent questions were asked of the same representative individuals, the value of the data was enhanced by being internally consistent.