In recent years, hand surgery has been moving out of the traditional setting, with surgeons increasingly seeking out innovative ways of working to deliver more efficient treatment to their patients. Mark Lee discusses the WALANT approach to hand surgery and other evolving trends, which are moving the discipline forward.
The benefits associated with conducting hand surgery in a less than traditional setting of an operating theatre (room) have been well documented over the years. But the more recent evolutions within hand surgery have taken this much further still, to cater for the ever-growing list of elective surgery requirements — with four procedures (Dupuytren's, Carpal tunnel, Cubital tunnel and trigger finger) predicted to grow from 104,652 in 2015, to 170,166 by 2030.1
As of April 2025, the elective surgery waiting list for England stood at 7.39 million, with many waiting longer than the 18-week target for 92% of patients.2
Following the Second World War, on both sides of the Atlantic, a keener focus had developed on hand surgery, to utilise the growing knowledge in treating injured military personnel from an orthopaedic and plastic surgery perspective.
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