HUDDERSFIELD Royal Infirmary has become one of the few general hospitals in the country to establish a specialist research centre for knee replacements.
It is hoped that the West Riding Knee Unit will expand to make Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust a centre of excellence for knee surgery.
Two orthopaedic consultants, a specialist physiotherapist and two research nurses staff the unit.
Mr Gautam Chakra- barty, orthopaedic consultant surgeon said: "By incorporating all the specialities in the team we can reduce the amount of patients having to attend consultant clinics.
"The physiotherapist and nurse can carry out follow-ups, which frees up my time to see new patients.
"We all carry out a clinic at the same time so our expertise can be shared."
Data is collected for research purposes.
Mrs Diane Whittingham, Trust chief executive, officially opened the unit, which is located in the hospital ortho- paedics department.
The centre will cover the Calderdale and Huddersfield area.
