Sussex MSK Partnership East is taking steps to help protect the health and safety of our patients and staff and to ensure that robust plans are in place whilst the national emergency continues.

Are you waiting for a community clinic appointment for an assessment and diagnosis of your condition?

We are seeing patients face to face and by telephone, as and where appropriate. Some services or providers we work with may have seperate policies or processes in place. Please check with your provider if you have any concerns.

If you are attending a face to face appointment please CLICK HERE to see what to expect at this appointment.

The clinician will discuss the diagnosis and/or next steps with you.

Are you waiting for a physiotherapy appointment?

You will be contacted with a time for a phoneor face to face appointment by a partner organisation which provides our physiotherapy.

Are you waiting for a group exercise programme?

All group physiotherapy programmes are currently suspended.

If you were on a waiting list for the ESCAPE-Pain programme, or were in the middle of it, you can access the online version HERE.

 

Are you waiting for an appointment with the rheumatology team?

You will be contacted with a time for a phone appointment by a partner organisation which provides Rheumatology services.

What is happening to patients who need to be seen urgently?

Patients who are urgent or emergency cases are being dealt with appropriately on an individual basis.

Are you waiting for surgery?

When will I hear about my operation?

We will contact our urgent patients first and then those on our routine waiting list in date order. Over time we will contact all of you.

Please note that the amount of pain you are experiencing is not the only factor that effects whether you are on a routine or urgent waiting list.

We know that many of our patients waiting for operations are in pain so please use this website to find out more about how you can reduce this. There is a section on pain HERE and videos about pain HERE

What should I do while I wait?

Take a look at the relevant pages for your problem on this website. It is important that, even in this time of limited public movement, you keep moving as much as possible otherwise your symptoms are very likely to get worse.

It is also important to keep yourself as fit as possible for your surgery. Try to avoid the temptation of eating more chocolate and cakes during lockdown or drinking more alcohol! It is important to keep your weight down and lose weight if you need to.

Try to do the relevant exercises for your condition. Remember that the more you do these the less pain you will have and the quicker you will recover after your operation. This page may be helpful.

I’m on a waiting list for a new hip or knee, what should I do?

It is vital that you keep to your pre-surgery exercises. If you are unsure what these are you can use the exercises in the hip and knee surgery booklets found below: