Hip, knee, shoulder and spine surgery in Barcelona, with consultant surgeons at a university teaching hospital. Your own surgeon reads your scans within 48 hours, and you pay 40–50% less than going private in the UK.
Illustrative reviews, not from named patients. Verified Trustpilot and Google reviews will replace these once the clinic’s feeds are connected.
Geoffrey P., 68 Hip replacement, ShrewsburyI had been on the list since the March before last and had stopped believing a date would ever come. I expected the speed. What I did not expect was my surgeon ringing me himself on the Sunday evening to check I had understood the consent form.
Denise M., 61 Knee replacement, MotherwellMy husband was against the whole idea of going abroad for an operation, and he is the one who talks about it now. The hotel was a five-minute walk and the physiotherapist came to us on the two days I could not face the taxi.
Alan R., 57 Rotator cuff repair, GatesheadFour stars rather than five only because the first week at home was harder than I had been led to expect and I would rather have been warned. The surgery itself and the aftercare were faultless, and the price did not change by a penny.
Send a photograph of your X-ray report and a surgeon will tell you whether surgery is the right answer.
One price, quoted before you travel. If your surgeon decides once you arrive that you need something different, you hear about it before anything is booked.
| Procedure | UK private | NHS wait | OrthoBCN | Our wait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hip replacement Ceramic-on-polyethylene | £14,500 | 48 weeks | £7,950 | 3 weeks |
| Knee replacement Cemented, patient-matched | £15,200 | 52 weeks | £8,400 | 3 weeks |
| Partial knee replacement Unicompartmental | £13,400 | 48 weeks | £7,200 | 3 weeks |
| Shoulder replacement Anatomic or reverse | £17,500 | 46 weeks | £9,600 | 4 weeks |
| Cervical disc replacement Single level | £18,400 | 44 weeks | £9,800 | 4 weeks |
| Hip arthroscopy Impingement and labral repair | £10,200 | 40 weeks | £5,400 | 3 weeks |
| Rotator cuff repair Arthroscopic | £9,200 | 38 weeks | £4,900 | 3 weeks |
| ACL reconstruction Hamstring or patellar graft | £8,900 | 36 weeks | £4,650 | 2 weeks |
| Knee arthroscopy and meniscal repair | £5,400 | 34 weeks | £2,950 | 2 weeks |
| Platelet-rich plasma therapy Course of three | £1,800 | Not funded | £950 | 1 week |
NHS waiting times are placeholders and are not drawn from published statistics.
You can stop at any of the first three steps without paying anything at all.
A photograph of an X-ray report is enough. If you do not have one, we tell you what to ask your GP for.
A video consultation with the consultant who would operate, then a written quote valid for ninety days.
We hold your theatre slot for seven days, book the flights and hotel, and arrange pre-operative checks near you.
You arrive Monday, are assessed that afternoon, and are operated on the Tuesday morning.
Daily physiotherapy until you fly, then video reviews at six weeks, six months and a year.
Fellowship-trained in Los Angeles, New York and Cleveland, not agency locums.
Surgery at a University of Barcelona teaching unit, with resident intensive care.
Direct flights from most UK airports, and a driver waiting when you land.
Quoted before you fly and itemised, including the implant by name.
Video reviews with your own surgeon, with a written report for your GP.
Consultations, consent and ward rounds in English, including online video consultations.
You have a video consultation with the consultant who would perform your operation before you decide anything at all.
Hip and knee reconstruction
Founder of BICOS. Consultant at Hospital Universitari Sagrat Cor, where he coordinates the Hip Unit.
Spine, hip, knee and shoulder
Consultant at Centro Médico Teknon and a reference surgeon in spinal pathology as well as joint replacement.
Sports injury and arthroscopy
Medical Director of Centro Médico Catalonia and assistant professor with the School of Sports Medicine.
Your surgery is carried out at Hospital Universitari Sagrat Cor, the largest privately owned general hospital in Barcelona and a teaching unit of the University of Barcelona Faculty of Medicine.
If something goes wrong at two in the morning, and in any hospital it occasionally does, there is a resident medical team already in the building. Consultations and some procedures also take place at Centro Médico Teknon and Centro Médico Catalonia.
Rather than badges, here is what can actually be checked.
Most of the week after a joint replacement is walking, sleeping, and being told to do slightly more than feels reasonable. In February it is a better week in Barcelona than it is at home.
Your companion stays in the same room at no extra cost. Our coordinator books restaurants within a distance you can manage on a frame, and will tell you which sights are worth the effort and which involve more steps than the guidebooks admit.
By the time you fly home you will have walked further each day than you had managed in months.
Your operation takes place in a 350-bed university teaching hospital with a resident medical team and intensive care on site, not in a day clinic. The risks of the operation itself are the same as they would be at home. The difference worth weighing is what happens afterwards, which is covered below.
Your surgeon reviews you by video at six weeks, six months and twelve months, and you have a direct number for the clinical team in between. If you need to be seen in person we cover the cost of flying you back within the first year for anything related to the operation. What we cannot do is treat you in the UK, so for anything urgent you would be relying on your GP and the NHS. That is a real limitation of surgery abroad and you should weigh it before you book.
Your consultation, your consent discussion and your ward rounds are in English. Two of our three surgeons consult in English, and your coordinator is with you for anything else.
All three hold Spanish specialist registration in orthopaedic surgery. Between them they trained at the Dorr Arthritis Institute in Los Angeles, the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, and the Cleveland Clinic. Their full training histories are on this page rather than summarised into a badge.
Not from the NHS. The routes that once allowed reimbursement for planned treatment in the EU closed to UK residents after 2021. Some private policies and cash plans will contribute. We give you an itemised invoice in the format insurers expect, but we do not promise you will be paid.
For most patients, yes, at eight or nine days. There is a raised risk of clots after lower-limb surgery, which is why the package includes compression stockings, anticoagulant injections and extra legroom on the way home. If your surgeon judges you are not ready to fly, you stay, and we cover the extra nights.
Flights for you and a companion, the hotel, all transfers, the hospital stay, the surgeon and anaesthetist, the implant by name, daily physiotherapy and twelve months of video aftercare. What is not included is travel insurance, anything unrelated to the operation, and treatment you need once back in the UK.
Plenty of people bring a partner and stay on afterwards, though your surgeon will have a view on how much walking is sensible in the first fortnight. Tell your coordinator early and they will book the extra nights at the same rate.
Send a photograph of your X-ray and a surgeon will look at it. There is no form to fill in, and nobody will ring you at teatime to ask whether you have thought any more about it.
Example exchange with the Front Desk coordinator. Not a live conversation.