Hugh Stewart

Orthopaedic Surgeon

I am a consultant orthopaedic surgeon having serviced a District General Hospital since 1990 (Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Westmorland General Hospital, Kendal, (now known as part of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS trust) for general orthopaedics and trauma.

I am now part-time, and, free from the distractions of trauma and administrative duties, have been able to concentrate, ie specialise fully in, surgery of the lower limb, that is, knee and hip surgery.

I offer you a cheerful, friendly, competent and experienced opinion, and treat you as a person not a repository of symptoms and pathology. If I cannot diagnose or treat you I will suggest who can.

I have been successfully locally appraised annually for the past 15 years, and have been nationally revalidated in late 2017.

I became interested in the relatively new approach to hip replacements, AMIS, in 2009, and visited Frederick Laude in Paris, attending also his anatomical workshop in Tours. This technique involved using a table to manipulate the legs during surgery, which I found presented operational difficulties when used in different hospitals, and in addition made the visualisation of the acetabulum (pelvic socket) less than optimal. Following a visit to John van Overshield in Brussels in 2011, I have been using a “figure of 4 technique” which does away with the table, allowing excellent socket visualisation. It does make the stem insertion into the femur harder, although good stem position can (and indeed must) be obtained, albeit with a struggle in tough cases.

Types of problem dealt with:

  • Arthritis of the hip (AMIS hip replacements)
  • Leg pain ? cause. Hip/back?
  • Arthritis of the knee.
  • Soft tissue knee injuries (excluding ligament surgery), including meniscal problems.
  • Experienced opinion for general orthopaedics.

Makes of joint replacement used:

  • Corail/pinnacle for hips, (Depuy) with 30+ years track record.
  • Attune for knees, with use of the Themis balancer. (Depuy)

Contacts

NHS Hospital:
Westmorland General Hospital
Kendal
Tel 01539 732288
Secretary Gillian Greenbank

This has no medical specialist units, so neither complex surgery such as revision joint surgery, nor patients found to be cardiologically or otherwise unfit can be done there I’m afraid.