The Hands and Plastics Department provides emergency, urgent and non-urgent care for patients requiring specialist input across Manchester. We are a critical component of the Greater Manchester Trauma Hospital, the sole trauma centre for the 3.2 million population of Greater Manchester.
Our department includes orthoplastic hand and specialist plastic teams. The hand unit has five orthopaedic and plastic surgery trained hand consultants, working alongside four consultants in the specialist plastic unit, providing tertiary and specialist input for the patients of Manchester, in conjunction with a team of doctors, specialist nurses, hand therapists, physiotherapists and nursing and administrative staff.
Elective pathway
If you have a query about your hospital care for an elective (i.e. non-emergency) pathway, please contact your consultant’s secretary using the links below. This includes queries such as clinic appointments, scan results, surgery dates and fasting guidelines if you have an upcoming operation.
Preoperative assessment
If you are on the waiting list for an operation and have a query about your preoperative assessment (such as which medications you should stop and which you should continue) please contact the pre-operative clinic helpline on 0161 206 1412.
Trauma pathway
If you have been seen for an emergency condition (such as an injury or infection) and have been told by the hands and plastic surgery team that you may need an operation, please direct any queries to the trauma nurse coordinator (TNC) using the contact numbers below:
- Hands and Plastics TNC: 0161 206 5898 (6:30am – 4pm)
- For queries between 4pm and 7pm you can contact the general orthopaedic TNC (0161 206 1454) who may be able to provide some general advice, otherwise please call the Hands and Plastics TNC the next day.
Fracture clinic
If you have had a hand or wrist injury and are being followed up in the fracture clinic and need to reschedule your appointment, need advice about your treatment or have any issues with your cast, please contact the fracture clinic hotline on 0161 206 4833. This is a voicemail service so please leave your name, date of birth, hospital number, telephone number and a short message and your call will be returned as soon as possible. For any emergencies please contact your GP or attend the Emergency Department.
Hand therapy
If you have a query for hand therapy (such as appointment changes, a problem with your splint or issues with your progress) please contact the Salford Hand Therapy team via:
- 0161 206 5319 (this is a voicemail service – please leave a message and you will be contacted as soon as possible)
- Hand.therapy@nca.nhs.uk
Consultant secretaries
Please contact your consultant via their secretary using the email address below.
Consultant: Mohamed Badawy
Secretary: Jessica Carroll
Email: jessica.carroll2@nca.nhs.uk
Consultant: Rahul Bamal
Secretary: Niamh Carlin
Email: niamh.carlin@nca.nhs.uk
Consultant: Mark Gorman
Secretary: Sarah Kiernan
Email: sarah.kiernan@nca.nhs.uk
Consultant: Ashraf Mostafa
Secretary: Alana Sawan
Email: alana.sawan@nca.nhs.uk
Consultant: Zaf Naqui
Secretary: Dawn Smith
Email: dawn.smith@nca.nhs.uk
Consultant: Malek Racy
Secretary: Dawn Smith
Email: dawn.smith@nca.nhs.uk
Consultant: Julia Ruston
Secretary: Niamh Carlin
Email: niamh.carlin@nca.nhs.uk
Consultant: Susie Yao
Secretary: Sarah Kiernan
Email: sarah.kiernan@nca.nhs.uk
If you are unable to email or prefer telephone, then please ring the hospital switchboard on 0161 624 0420 and ask the operator for the relevant secretary.
The department offers consultant-led face-to-face clinics and surgery for elective and trauma patients. An overview of the services provided is demonstrated in the image below.
Overview of services
For the orthoplastic hand unit, services in particular include:
- Acute management of all hand and wrist injuries including bone, tendon, nerve and complex wounds
- Joint and soft tissue reconstruction following previous injury
- Nerve decompression, such as for carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel syndrome
- Management of osteoarthritis, including joint replacement for finger and wrist joints
- Surgical management of inflammatory arthritis (such as rheumatoid arthritis or gout) and other autoimmune conditions such as systemic sclerosis
- Specialist operations to manage patients with complex nerve and spasticity conditions, such as after stroke or neurological conditions.
Outpatient appointment
When attending your clinic, please ensure you bring any relevant information that you might have (such as previous letters/ results, a list of your medication), especially if you have received previous treatment for this condition in a different hospital or region.
You may require investigations such as X-rays or other procedures such as dressing or splint changes which will add to the duration of your appointment – please allow enough time to accommodate for this.
Please arrive early to allow for parking as this can be difficult at busy times.
You may be reviewed by a trainee doctor or an associate professional, such as a specialist senior therapist. There may also be students present in clinic -if you would prefer to be seen privately then please inform the nurse in clinic on your arrival.
Surgery
Please refer to the advice provided to you by the trauma coordinator/ preoperative nurse/ secretary regarding time and location of arrival.
Depending on the type of procedure and anaesthetic, you will have been given fasting instructions prior to your surgery (i.e. times of when you are not allowed to eat or drink before the operation) or instructions on stopping particular medication. If you are unsure, please contact the relevant person in the ‘contact details’ section above to clarify as non-compliance with these instructions could result in your surgery being delayed or cancelled on the day.
Patients are brought in at the start of the morning or afternoon session to allow for clinical review and preparation for theatre. The operating list order can change throughout the day so you may be waiting for longer than you expected for surgery- please do bring reading material/ a charger for any electronic devices to help pass the time whilst you wait. We apologise in advance for any difficulties this may cause.
For all acute/emergency hand or plastic referrals, please refer using the portal below. This form is for medical professionals only, it only works via NHS networks.