Eastern Health starts hip and knee replacement surgery on outpatient basis

Eastern Health started to complete hip and knee replacement surgery on an outpatient basis last week.

This new approach is meant to manage surgical waitlists for hip and knee joint replacement surgeries and to reduce wait times.

Debbie Walsh, Vice President of Clinical Services with Eastern Health said, “by providing outpatient surgery, patients are released to go home on the same day as their surgery. They can also recuperate quicker and in the comfort of their own homes."

Not all patients are eligible for the same day procedure, for example, those with a significant medical history of heart, lung, kidney or liver disease, and those who are taking blood thinners for medical reasons would not be eligible.