Hand Unit

Based at St George’s Hospital, we are a consultant led unit with a patient-centered and multi-disciplinary approach to helping people manage their hand and wrist problems. We treat acute injuries and long term conditions.

The team consists of six plastics hand consultants and two orthopaedic hand consultants. They are supported by a nursing team including an advanced nurse practitioner and four nurse specialists and a therapies team made up of a clinical specialist hand therapist, nine therapists and one therapy technician.

We treat a variety of conditions including but not limited to:

• Arthritis
• Carpal tunnel syndrome and other nerve compressions
• Complex wound care
• Dupuytren’s disease
• Ganglion and other cysts
• Localised burns to the hand
• Hand and wrist abnormalities in children
• Hand Trauma
  • Fractures
  • Ligaments
  • Infections
  • Muscle injuries
  • Nerve injuries
  •  Tendon injuries
• Trigger finger
• Wrist instability and pain

Hand Trauma Clinic

We have a nurse practitioner led hand trauma clinic five days per week, with a consultant hand surgeon available for complex injuries requiring senior review. Patients aged 16 and over with acute injuries will be referred to this clinic from the Emergency Department or GP. During the clinic, the injury will be assessed and diagnosed. Small procedures may be carried out in the Hand Trauma Clinic. More complex procedures will be scheduled on our hand trauma operating lists. These are usually performed as day case procedures via the Day Surgery Unit.

Consultant Hand Clinic

Each of the consultants has a hand clinic one day per week, seeing a mixture of new patients and follow ups. Please see individual profile pages below for more detailed information about our team.

Hand Therapy

Our dedicated hand therapy team have clinic rooms in the Hand Unit and work alongside the consultant hand clinics and Hand Trauma Clinic. They provide on the day appointments for urgent cases and have scheduled appointments in their main department in St James Wing. Please see the Hand Therapy page for more information on the service they provide.

Steroid Injection Clinic 

We have a weekly service providing steroid injections to joints under x-ray guidance for the treatment of painful arthritic joints. This service is led by the advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) in the Hand Unit as a daycase procedure under local anaesthetic. Patients can book further steroid injections directly with the ANP following their first successful injection, saving time and appointments in the consultant hand clinic.

BSSH

Please see more information and patient information leaflets on The British Society for Surgery of the Hand’s website

https://www.bssh.ac.uk/patients/