A shortage of bone cement has forced the NHS Trust that runs York and Scarborough hospitals to cancel more than a dozen appointments.
A national shortage of medical cement last week led the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to cancel 13 appointments, including today.
The cement is used in some orthopaedic procedures such as hip and knee replacements.
However, NHS England has announced it has secured two alternative suppliers and the York and Scarborough Trust is expecting to take delivery of the new cement tomorrow (Thursday, 26 February), with scheduled appointments currently set to go ahead as planned.
Martin Barkley, chair of the York and Scarborough Trust, said that the organisation was expecting delivery of the cement on Thursday and, barring further delays, it would be “back to business as usual”.
Due to a shortage of cement, the NHS “wrote to all trusts and asked that we cancel routine electives to protect the current stock for trauma, and that involved cancelling patient appointments, including today,” said Claire Hansen, the trust’s chief operating officer.
Speaking at a board meeting at Scarborough Hospital today (Wednesday), she told colleagues: “There was a meeting with a national team, and they have secured two alternative suppliers which all trusts have approved, including our own clinicians who were involved in that, as well as the British Orthopaedic Association.
“We are able to start ordering [the cement] from tomorrow and the training for the new product will be done by the companies.
“We’re carrying on with the trust resilience group until we can feel and see the cement, and then we will stand that group down.”
Health bosses were told that other procedures were prioritised instead “to help patients” when the 13 appointments requiring bone cement were cancelled.
The global shortage occurred when one of the major international manufacturers temporarily paused production “following a packaging fault”.
Although production has now restarted, supplies remain limited across the UK and are expected to be affected over the coming weeks, the NHS said.
Chief operating officer, Ms Hansen, said: “We had a company that supplied 85 per cent of that cement to the NHS and they’ve had issues that have affected the next eight to 10 weeks of supplies.”
Prof Tim Briggs of NHS England said: “This shortage has been extremely concerning for patients and surgeons and we are delighted the NHS has now been able to secure this ‘rescue package’ of alternative bone cement to ensure trauma and elective care can continue across the country.”
The product is used in more than 1,000 operations a week, the BBC reported.
Health minister Zubir Ahmed said: “This government’s top health priority is cutting NHS waiting lists – and while it’s good news that disruption has been minimised, our focus is now on rescheduling those procedures that were postponed.”
