We are already seeing routine operations being cancelled in order to cope with the demand for orthopaedic surgery.
Complex orthopaedic surgery will no longer be carried out at Whitehaven's Cumberland Hospital.
Bath's Royal United Hospital has cancelled orthopaedic surgery for the weekend because its staff have struggled to get to work.
Was this go-ahead specifically and as a last resort to LHBs who are struggling to cut waiting times for orthopaedic surgery?
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It said, however, the trust was working with the Health and Social Care Board, and was "doing all that it can to reduce the waiting time for planned orthopaedic surgery".
"It is important to recognise that the demand for planned orthopaedic surgery across the whole of Northern Ireland is greater than the existing capacity to provide the service, " the trust said.
Ashley Blom, professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Bristol, told the Today programme's John Humphrys that the kind of hips being described are still being used even though the number has reduced.
Toronto and Calgary have sprouted health centres that employ scores of doctors, charging heavily for diagnostic services and some orthopaedic or dental surgery.
An ABM centre of excellence will also be set up in the orthopaedic service for shoulder, feet and ankle joint surgery and will involve more than 2, 000 operations a year.
The surgery, which took 13 hours and 16 orthopaedic and microvascular surgeons from five hospitals -- was also the first bilateral arm transplant performed at Johns Hopkins.
The claims relate to surgery carried out by Mr Manjit Bhamra, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Rotherham General Hospital between 2005 and 2007.
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The Health Minister said in February that the money would go to the Gwent Health Authority, which has excessive waiting times for orthopaedic services, which include hip replacements, knee joints and back surgery.
Teresa Jones, research manager at the hospital said orthopaedic patients would be asked to chew gum for 30 minutes, four or five times a day, following surgery until they are discharged.
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