The Trauma and Orthopaedics team at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has launched a ‘one-stop’ clinic to help patients suffering from the pain of osteoarthritis in their hands and wrists.

Before the clinic, it could have taken up to a year from GP referral, to first appointment, to x-ray, and then treatment in the radiology department or operating theatres.

The launch of the clinic has reduced the wait for treatment by months, whilst also easing the pressure on the hospital’s other departments.

Based in the South Block of the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the team sees hundreds of people in the Outpatient department each month.

Furthermore, thanks to a brand-new x-ray machine, clinicians can now image the hand and wrist themselves in the clinic.

This means a patient can get seen, assessed, diagnosed, and treated with a steroid injection within their first visit to the hospital.

Trauma and Orthopaedic Consultant Natasha Picardo said: “Living with pain is exhausting and makes normal life difficult.

“To be able to see patients just once, often within weeks of an initial referral, means they can receive treatment and get on with their lives much more quickly.”

The launch of the new clinic builds on the one-stop Dupuytren clinic which opened at the hospital earlier in the summer.