Dislocated shoulders are a painful and potentially serious injury, which happen when the upper arm bone (humerus) pops out of the shoulder socket (glenoid).

The current practice to treat a patient with a dislocated shoulder is to administer a local anaesthetic and then a doctor will gently move the humerus back into the glenoid socket.

Several staff members are needed to support the treatment; including an anaesthetist, nurse practitioner and observer before and after the administration of the anaesthetic, as well as a doctor to undertake the procedure.

The current procedure also requires valuable resources, including a hospital bed in the emergency room and an anaesthetic. The patient must stay in the hospital bed throughout the procedure, as well as a subsequent monitoring period while the anaesthetic wears off.

This process can be lengthy and can be delayed while staff members attend to more seriously ill patients in the emergency room. It is important to note that the sooner a dislocated shoulder is treated the lower the risk of permanent injury to the socket.

Dr Ala Mohammed and Dr Philip Dowson from the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust have developed a procedure which uses a piece of patented equipment called the Sunderland Shoulder Reduction Bench.

It allows a dislocated shoulder to be treated without the need for an anaesthetic procedure. This leads to the patient being seen more quickly and discharged sooner, reducing the amount of time they are in pain.

Using the Sunderland Shoulder Reduction Bench means staff resource is freed up, a hospital bed is no longer required and the costs of administrating the anaesthetic is saved. Doctors Mohammed and Dowson have also been able to train nurse practitioners to undertake the procedures, relieving capacity pressures. Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria assisted South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust with market research and supporting the Trust with protecting the associated intellectual property for the bench.