PATIENTS at BUPA's South Bank Hospital in Worcester are literally walking out of the operating theatre following knee surgery thanks to two consultants championing a technique commonly used in Scandinavia.

Knee arthroscopies - a keyhole operation used to look inside and treat knee joint problems - are usually performed under general anaesthetic. But at the Artro Clinic in Stockholm, Sweden, visited by BUPA South Bank orthopaedic surgeon Ebby Rouholamin and anaesthetist Clive Studd in May this year, they are carried out using a local anaesthetic.

Dr Studd, who estimates that probably 95 per cent of knee arthroscopies carried out in the UK are done under general anaesthetic, said: "Increasingly at South Bank, patients are having this operation under local anaesthetic and it was intriguing to see how this approach has been developed in Sweden.

"We started doing knee arthroscopies under local anaesthetic about three years ago after a patient came to us and said he didn't want to undergo a general anaesthetic because he had an event to attend the same evening after the operation.

"We have now done more than 150 operations this way."

He added that patients are able to remain awake and talk to the surgeon during the operation and understand what is wrong with their knee by looking at the arthroscope camera display.

"They can then go home more quickly after the procedure, with no risk from the possible side-effects of general anaesthetic and complications are rare and there is less post-operative pain," he said.

The two consultants have already held two training days and will be holding more next year.