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Royal Orthopaedic Community Scheme (ROCS)

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The Royal Orthopaedic Community Scheme (ROCS team) provide care for patients at home following orthopaedic surgery. ROCS cover a radius of approximately 25 – 30 miles from the hospital. Their specialist skills include:

  • wound care (including negative pressure wound therapy)
  • administering IV antibiotics at home
  • post discharge care
  • physiotherapy
  • support and encouragement.

Wound care helpline

The ROCS team respond to helpline calls and support patients with their post-operative wounds. This post discharge support is designed to reduce the workload for local GP surgeries and helps to reduce the amount of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed by GP’s as a ‘precaution’ following joint replacement surgery.

ROCS visit patients at home, assess the issue, take blood if necessary and then arrange ongoing care in the rare occasion it is required. This prevents patients from having to make their way back to the hospital after their recent surgery and reassures both the patient and the consultant that even after going home, expert orthopaedic care is provided.

Care in the community

The ROCS team also work closely with the Infection Services to deliver complex care in the community. They help to prevent long hospital stays and re-admissions. The ROCS team is a multidisciplinary team with a broad mix of skills and specialities. They are adaptable and focus on the individual needs of patients, putting people at the centre of their care. Every single member of the ROCS team cares deeply about providing a fantastic patient experience and delivering excellent clinical and person-centred outcomes.

Working in partnership

Since 2012 the ROCS team have provided help to Sandwell and West Birmingham hospitals in order to ease some of the bed pressures hospitals struggle with. Orthopaedic patients who have undergone hip and knee replacements now go home two days following their surgery. The ROCS team visit them at home and provide all the nursing and physiotherapy care they need. This partnership benefits both hospitals, but most importantly, patients who receive the specialist orthopaedic care they need at hospital and at home.