There are situations in which a broken bone needs to be seen to urgently. Thankfully, these situations are usually self-evident and appropriate care is usually arranged straight away following on from a visit to a hospital emergency department.
These situations include where there is a significant soft tissue wound or injury as well as the bone injury, if the bone has come out through an open wound (a “compound fracture”), if there is a significant deformity (abnormal shape or bend) to the injured arm or leg or if there is severe swelling/ numbness or loss circulation to the injured arm or leg.
In most instances, these emergency situations do not arise and the definitive treatment of the fracture (either surgery or fitting of a proper cast or brace) can be delayed for as much as 2 weeks. At Access Ortho we always prefer to see people as quickly as possible after their injury but we realise that logistics make this not always possible.
We will gather as much information about your injury as we can when we are making your initial appointment so that we can advise about the urgency or otherwise of your initial appointment.