Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery

Adult orthopaedic trauma services care for adult patients with injuries to the musculoskeletal system. The areas of focus include fractures, dislocations, and ligamentous injuries. Adult orthopaedic trauma care is provided within acute services providing care in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Within the acute hospital it may involve some or all of the following: ED; fracture clinic staff; plaster technicians; inpatient ward staff; physiotherapists; occupational therapists; trauma and orthopaedic surgeons; anaesthetists; theatre staff; orthogeriatricians; radiologists; and others.

Bob Handley

Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery Clinical Lead

Consultant for trauma and orthopaedic surgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital

Mr Handley is a consultant for trauma and orthopaedic surgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as well as an honorary senior lecturer in trauma and orthopaedics at the University of Oxford.

He is a past president of the British Orthopaedic Association, the Orthopaedic Trauma Society and AOUK.

He was co-chair of the NICE guideline development group for complex and non-complex fractures and a member of the GDG for hip fractures. He is a current member and previous chair of the British Orthopaedic Association trauma committee, the group responsible for developing the British Orthopaedic Association Standards (BOASTS), which have become accepted as the readily accessible source for standards of care in this field.

Dr Judith Agwada-Akeru

Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery Clinical Advisor

Consultant ortho-geriatrician at Whipps Cross Hospital, part of Barts Health NHS Trust

Dr Agwade-Akeru is a consultant ortho-geriatrician at Whipps Cross Hospital, holding dual certificate of completion of training (CCT) qualifications in geriatric medicine and general internal medicine.

In her role as clinical lead for ortho-geriatrics and clinical effectiveness for older person’s services, Dr Agwada-Akeru co-leads the Barts Health Trust neck of femur pathway and the National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD). Since her appointment in 2020, she has successfully developed and implemented a centralised integrated ortho-geriatric service for north-east London patients within the Barts Health hip fracture pathway, delivering significant improvements in patient outcomes.

As a quality improvement specialist, she focuses particularly on enhanced recovery principles of care for patients undergoing hip fracture repair. In 2023, she led a collaborative project between Barts Health and Johnson & Johnson MedTech, developing the innovative Barts NOF ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) protocol, which has demonstrably improved patient outcomes while reducing length of stay.

She has pioneered an innovative bone health service integrated within Whipps Cross Hospital’s multifactorial falls risk assessment programme since 2021, led by geriatricians. This initiative has resulted in a substantial increase in the initiation of bone protection therapy ranging from bisphosphonates to anabolics, for primary and secondary prevention of fragility fractures, representing a significant advancement in preventive care for vulnerable patient populations.