Appointment Booking Centre 0191 282 4444
Where appropriate, you may be offered a telephone or video consultation. We will let you know if the appointment has been changed to telephone or video call.
You can find out more about video appointments here.
The Musculo Skeletal outpatient department sees patients referred to our care with conditions relating to elective (planned) orthopaedic surgery, rheumatology and metabolic bone disease.
Clinics and Services
Musculoskeletal service outpatient
Rheumatology and specialist clinics for metabolic bone conditions run daily along with orthopaedic conditions including hip, knee and foot and ankle surgery.
Each day there is a specialist clinic for people who need appliances fitted by the Peacocks team.
You may be attending before or after your surgery or to manage a condition such as Rheumatology. You will be seen by one of the consultants team, this may be the consultant, specialist nurse, physiotherapist or junior doctor.
When you arrive in the clinic you will register with the administration desk who will book you into the system, informing the clinical staff that you have arrived. Once booked in you will be asked to wait in one of our waiting areas. Before seeing your clinician you may have to an x-ray, blood test or be weighed in order that this information is available before your consultation.
We always try to keep clinics running on time but sometimes this is difficult and there may be delays. The staff in clinic will keep you updated if clinics are running late.
Rheumatology
A wide range of general and specialist rheumatology clinics are held including:
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Connective tissue and autoimmune disorders (ie. lupus, scleroderma and dermatomyositis)
- Psoriatic, inflammatory and other arthritis related conditions
- Early arthritis clinic
- Sports injuries
- Transitional care (for patient transferring from the children to adult service)
- Ultrasound guided injections and aspirations (removal) of fluid
Our nurses also provide a DMARD (disease modifying anti-rheumatoid drug) monitoring service to inform patients about the drugs they are taking and how to monitor blood levels and self-administer their medication.
Metabolic Bone Disease
The metabolic bone disease clinics monitor bone density and diagnose osteoporosis so that the appropriate treatment can be provided.
There is a Bone Densitometry Scanning Unit based in the department with two DEXA scanning machines.
In addition there is a stand alone x-ray facility providing clinical staff with state of the art digital imaging of scans.
We have three osteoporosis nurse specialists who review patients both independently and alongside the bone mineral consultant.
Elective Orthopaedic
There are a number of clinics for patients both before and after all types of elective orthopaedic surgery, including:
- Upper limb surgery including specialist hand surgery
- Lower limb surgery including foot and ankle surgery with a specialist in biomechanics and an orthotist who hold special clinics
- Spinal surgery
- Joint replacement or athroplasty surgery
We also run combined clinics for more complex conditions such as bone and soft tissue tumours (sarcomas).
There is a ‘fast-track’ back pain service available and our patients can also see a team of plaster technicians when required.
The Appliance Service is also situated within the musculo skeletal outpatient department where patients can be provided with specialist equipment to help with mobility and function.
