A digital platform with Stockport NHS input has won a national award for helping improve care for orthopaedic patients.

The ‘myrecovery’ platform, delivered by Greater Manchester Orthopaedic Alliance (GMOA) clinicians, received the ‘Innovation’ award from the National Orthopaedic Alliance at their annual ‘Excellence In Orthopaedics Awards’, which celebrate ways of transforming care for the better. The platform’s aim is to improve outcomes for patients undergoing hip, knee or shoulder surgery by giving them easier access to the information they need for their recovery.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, together with Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, the Northern Care Alliance, and Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, are all members of the GMOA who have been actively involved in introducing the myrecovery platform within Greater Manchester. They have been supported with implementation by the Greater Manchester Elective Care Recovery and Reform Board.

myrecovery can be accessed as an online app by patients, enabling them to find out more about their treatment and recovery as it progresses. It contains customised videos, articles, checklists, tasks and exercises which patients can access throughout their treatment and recovery. The content was created with stakeholders across Greater Manchester, including consultants, physiotherapists, therapy team members, and outcomes / management teams, along with patients.

To give an example, a patient who is waiting for joint replacement surgery will get information on how to prepare for surgery as well as a checklist of what to bring to hospital. After the operation, the app will give advice on what to expect after surgery, and exercise videos to help support their rehabilitation.

Over 5,500 patients across Greater Manchester have accessed the app since it was introduced in April 2022. 84% of these post-operative patients said they would recommend the app to other patients, and 73% felt their recovery was enhanced by the app. A review of the initial patients using myrecovery at Stepping Hill Hospital and Wrightington Hospital has shown those engaged with the app stay in hospital for a shorter time and are less likely to be readmitted.

The teams responsible for the app were recognised by the National Orthopaedic Alliance at the Excellence In Orthopaedics Awards, which followed their annual conference in Birmingham. The award was received by Transformation Project Manager Louise Benson of Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust, on behalf of the GMOA.

The awards are an opportunity to not only celebrate achievement, but to share best practice and promote continued collaboration in orthopaedics nationwide.

Professor David Johnson, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of the GMOA, said “Everyone within the Greater Manchester Orthopaedic Alliance is delighted our implementation of the myrecovery app has been recognised at the Excellence In Orthopaedics Awards. This smart, interactive use of technology gives our patients timely information about their condition, as they progress through their pathway and recovery. We hope many more thousands of patients across the region will benefit from this technology in the future.”