Analysis of services available for total joint replacement surgery.

The use of a total joint replacement surgery has been growing in a manner which is poorly understood. This growth is more likely to be limited by saturation of the available medical services than by a limit to the number of people who could benefit from the treatment. Present indications are that services will be saturated in 1974 or 1975, after which 4600 extra people a year will go on to the waiting lists if demand continues as at present. Stability can then be achieved by either raising the clinical criteria for surgical treatment or making about 300 extra orthopaedic beds available each year, buffered from the demands of acute trauma admissions.