Norfolk and Norwich Orthopaedic Centre (NaNOC)

The Norfolk and Norwich Orthopaedic Centre (NaNOC) was built in direct response to the profound impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on patients waiting for treatment.

The Trauma and Orthopaedics team began treating their first patients in the centre at the end of July 2024.

Very much a patient-centred unit, it’s been developed with its own facilities including a same-day admissions unit, treatment rooms, two laminar flow theatres, Post Anaesthetics Care Unit, a 21-bedded ward, called Ashill, physiotherapy rooms and a pharmacy and dispensing room for the embedded Pharmacy Team.

Some of the most up to date surgical equipment has been provided by the N&N Hospitals Charity which supported the build with a £2m grant – the biggest single grant in its history.

At full capacity, the team will carry out around 2,500 orthopaedic cases a year for patients who need ankle, foot, hip, knee or shoulder operations. To help with this work four new consultants – experts in hip, knee, shoulder and hand surgery, have been employed to bring the most innovative techniques to the team.

All staff are receiving training in the Trust’s Advanced Recovery Programme, which focuses on sending patients home as early and as safely as possible.

The main ethos of the unit is for ‘enhanced recovery’ i.e. getting patients up and about after surgery with a combination of surgical, anaesthetic techniques, tailored analgesia regimes and targeted physiotherapy. Our current length of stay is three days. The idea is to get patients home after a day for hip and knee replacement and some even home on the day of surgery. The unit is slightly removed from the main hospital and suitable for patients without complex medical needs. By moving those patients to NANOC frees up space on the in-patient orthopaedic ward (Cringleford) for patients with more complex medical needs or more complex surgery.