A familiar face in the Humberside and Nottinghamshire farming communities is looking forward to returning to horse riding after having a hip replacement at just 49.
Rachel Adamson farms 330 acres in Cottingham with her husband Dave, and for 28-years has been Group Secretary for the North Nottinghamshire National Farmers Union.
She said:
“It started three years ago when I noticed a sharp pain as I was getting on my horse. As time went on it became more and more difficult to get into the saddle.
“I didn’t realise my hip was the issue as the pain went down my leg. At first it was sharp and sporadic, though as time went on it became dull but constant. Sleep was hard to find because whatever way I lay it hurt.
“I was taking codeine, but that has unpleasant side effects, and I just felt miserable because I could not get on with the things I love. And driving around the county for work was becoming increasingly painful.”
Investigations revealed that early-onset osteoarthritis had severely damaged Mrs Adamson’s hip joint and the only option was a replacement hip joint.
She had spent months on a long waiting list for an operation at a hospital in East Yorkshire when NFU members in North Nottinghamshire suggested she tried Practice Plus Group Hospital, Barlborough (formally Barlborough NHS Treatment Centre).
She explained:
“They were in a part of the county where NHS patients are routinely sent to the Barlborough centre and I heard lots of good things about the place.
“Within six weeks of my GP referring me to Barlborough I was having the operation. I had the operation under local anaesthetic. It was incredible – I felt so alert once I left the operating theatre. Within hours I was working with the physiotherapists and by 3pm the next day I was heading home.”
Back at home she is busy having fun with her 12 and 14-year-old girls and three dogs, and she is looking forward to getting back in the saddle with her horse Stella.
She said:
“It is wonderful, I feel like my old self. I can sleep, I can work and I can have fun, all pain-free .”
Rachel Adamson
Steve Booker said:
“Under the Patients Charter, NHS patients have the right to choose where they receive hospital treatment. All hospitals publish their waiting times, for the most common operations, and there are many websites giving patients’ reviews of the treatment they receive.
“The Care Quality Commission also publish reports on all hospitals, looking at the levels of care and service we deliver. Once a GP has told a patient they need an operation, a couple of hours research can reveal local NHS hospitals offering short waiting times and excellent service that will see the patient out of pain and getting back to the things they love in the shortest possible time.”
Steve Booker