The first ever key hole hip replacement has been carried out at Grantham and District Hospital.

The pioneering 'key hole' SuperPath® hip replacement was recently carried out by Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Prasad Antapur and his assistant Jody Blow.

Patient Paul Finnelly (60), was able to get up and walk right away following the surgery, due to the novel technique.

The new technique, which uses a much smaller incision without cutting any muscles, alleviates the need for the precautions following traditional hip replacements and allows a much shorter stay in hospital. The surgery used pioneering techniques and specifically designed equipment from MicroPort.

This was Mr Antapur's first 'key hole' hip replacement surgery and he is one of a select group of surgeons across the country to be performing this surgery. Mr Antapur is confident of implementing this technique for all hip replacement surgeries at ULHT.

Mr Antapur said: "The surgery was expected to be technically challenging, but it still went well. It took just over an hour and a half, an expected time on the first attempt.

"This minimally-invasive surgery allows patients to get back to their normal activities and all previous restrictions associated with normal hip replacement surgery are redundant."

The surgery technique means patients have very little pain and the length of stay in hospital is greatly reduced. This allows wards to see more patients, especially as this type of hip replacement can be carried out as a day case surgery.

Surgical Ward Manager at Grantham hospital, Julie Record, said: "We have an excellent team here on Ward 2 and we are looking forward to more of these surgeries with a short length of stay. It is going to be a challenge but one we are looking forwarded to and excited by."

Patient Paul Finnelly is from London but spent most of his life in Cornwall before moving to Lincolnshire. He originally went to his GP with an ankle problem but after being referred to County Hospital, Louth it was discovered he needed a hip replacement.

Paul, said: "It is a very good feeling knowing the recovery isn't as long or bad as it would be normally.

"Everyone has been so brilliant and I am so grateful to them all. I am most looking forward to being able to take the metal detector back to the beach, something I haven't been able to do for several months."