Back surgery (spinal surgery) at Spire South Bank Hospital

Here at Spire South Bank Hospital, we pride ourselves on providing high-quality back surgery treatment in our clean, modern facilities.

Throughout your treatment and recovery, you’ll be offered a service that’s tailored to your needs and aimed at making you feel better faster. You’ll receive aftercare and support from our dedicated nurses and physiotherapists to help you make the best possible recovery.

At Spire South Bank Hospital, our consultants are highly skilled at performing back surgery for a variety of conditions. Your consultant will be able to recommend the best type of surgery for your needs. This may include one or more of the following:

• Discectomy – to remove part of a slipped disc and relieve associated symptoms
• Laminectomy – to remove part of a vertebra to relieve pressure on the spinal cord
• Spinal fusion – to strengthen your back

We’re able to offer surgical techniques and innovations that have been designed to improve outcomes. These include:

• If your consultant thinks it’s right for you, they may perform a minimally invasive back surgery – this usually means a faster recovery time while still achieving the same outcomes
• Interspinous distraction can be used for lumbar spinal stenosis, where a device is implanted between two vertebrae to relieve a trapped or compressed nerve
• Synthetic bone substitutes for spinal fusion so there’s no need to remove and use bone from elsewhere in your body

How to find us

Spire South Bank Hospital is convenient for both the city of Worcester and junction 7 of the M5 which is just 2 miles away, as are Worcester Shrub Hill station and Worcester Foregate Street station. We have free on-site parking available for you and your visitors.

Your consultations

As a first step, you’ll have an appointment with one of our experienced consultants. This will be in one of our 12 accessible consultation rooms so there’s no need to worry if you have mobility difficulties. This provides you with an opportunity to talk openly about your condition and the procedure with your consultant. During the appointment, your consultant will:

• Discuss your medical history
• Recommend tests and scans if required, such as an X-ray, an MRI or a CT scan, so they can look at your back in more detail
• Discuss which type of surgery you’ll need for your condition and what it’ll involve
• Explain about the general anaesthetic and how it may affect you

On the day of your procedure, you’ll meet your healthcare team, including your anaesthetist and your consultant again. You’ll be shown to one of our 15 large, bright, private rooms. You’ll be with us for one to four days, depending on the type of surgery you have.

If you’ve come with a friend or family member, they’re welcome to wait in our lounge while you have your operation.

Before surgery, you’ll be given a general anaesthetic, so you’ll be unconscious throughout the procedure. Once it’s taken effect, your consultant will begin your surgery.

Following your surgery, you’ll begin your recovery in one of our private rooms, all of which contain:

• Freeview TV
• En-suite
• Window
• Armchair
• WiFi

You may feel discomfort following your procedure, but your nursing team will make sure you have pain relief medication to help manage this. They’ll also be able to advise you on over-the-counter pain relief you can use while at home.

Physiotherapy also plays an important role in your recovery so we have a dedicated physiotherapy team who can provide you with tailored exercises to help you get the most from your operation.

Although everybody’s different and you should always follow your consultant’s advice, here’s a typical recovery timeline for back surgery: