Patients living in rural areas East and South of Peterborough will now benefit from consultant appointments closer to home, thanks to Fitzwilliam Hospital recently opening two outreach clinics.
Fitzwilliam Hospital has just opened a second pain management clinic at The Acorn Surgery in Huntingdon. Initially running 3 times a month, the clinic will reduce travel times and increase convenience for patients in the Huntingdon area.
Now patients living or working in the local market town of Huntingdon and West and South Cambridgeshire urban hubs such as Cambridge, St Neots, and St Ives can have initial pain consultant appointments nearer home in Huntingdon. This new addition quickly follows on from the success of Fitzwilliam’s first outreach clinic in Terrington St Clement, near Kings Lynn. Opened in October 2023, this clinic runs twice a month and offers pain management and hip and knee care to patients in West Norfolk.
At the Huntingdon outreach pain management clinic, patients attend their first appointment with Dr Mohammad Malik or Dr Namita Arora. Patients attending The Terrington St Clement’s outreach clinic can also see pain management consultant Dr Malik or Mr Sivaraman Subramanian for hip and knee issues.
Dr Malik says: “The main purpose is to offer patients a more convenient place for their consultant appointment without having to travel to Peterborough. Many patients live in these rural areas and having the opportunity to see a consultant nearer to home is a real benefit."
Chronic pain is very common that results in patients frequent seeking medical care. It can be widespread or localised and includes joint and nerve pain, spinal and back pain, chronic headaches and migraines, post-surgical pain, trauma pain, and unexplained continued pain.
Patients often bring diagnostic imaging results to their appointment to be reviewed by their consultant that supports a treatment plan discussion. Other patients come for their first consultation and are referred for diagnostics if required.
If patients are recommended interventional treatments or surgery to reduce their pain and improve the quality of their life, they can be seamlessly treated by their consultant in one of Fitzwilliam Hospital’s five modern operating theatres. These treatments can include nerve blocks, joint injections, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and hip and knee replacements and hip arthroscopy. Fitzwilliam Hospital’s patient, Mr Jackson, booked to see Mr Sivaraman Subramanian, Trauma and Orthopaedic Consultant, at the Terrington St Clement clinic after being highly recommended by the wife of Anaesthetist, Dr James Stimpson.
He says, “Having been recommended to Mr Subramanian and then finding out he was seeing patients without waiting in my home town of Terrington St Clements on Saturdays, it seemed like it was meant to be! On both occasions, I had a convenient early morning Saturday appointment. This meant I didn’t have to take time off in the working week or travel and I was home to enjoy the rest of my day off. I received an excellent service. I got to see Mr Subramanian very quickly and have now had keyhole surgery for a meniscus tear in my knee.”
Private patients who have medical insurance or are self-paying can refer themselves to Fitzwilliam Hospital’s outpatient clinics. NHS patients can be referred by their GP to the clinics. GP surgeries are finding the outreach clinics really useful and echo the benefits for their patients of convenience and reduced travel times and distances.
