A FORMER patient of Droitwich Knee Clinic donated a whopping £32,000 to further the specialist training which helped improve his symptoms.

The 36-year-old man, who wished to remain anonymous, made the donation to The Knee Foundation following successful treatment at the St Andrew's Road Clinic.

The foundation, based in Orchard House, Victoria Square trains junior doctors to become knee specialists and also carries out research in the field. With the money, donated in shares, the charitable foundation has recently purchased four athroscopic knee workstations to help train doctors on realistic knee models and specimens.

The four new workstations cost about £20,000 and the rest of the money will be put towards Research. Ellen Beales, manager of the Foundation, said the donation was a fantastic surprise.

"Usually we have these workstations on loan but now we have been able to buy four of our own," said Miss Beales. "With these in place, we can now help many more young doctors benefit from our skills and knowledge, ensuring knee sufferers receive the best help and advice possible."

The generous patient travelled up from Canterbury to Droitwich for the corrective surgery to realign his left knee a year ago. Mohi El-Shazly, one of four consultant orthopaedic surgeons at Droitwich Knee Clinic, used a technique - for the first time in the Spa - which involved applying a Sheffield Ring Fixator to his knee, with a new rotation hinge, which at that stage was a prototype.

Mr El-Shazly explained that traditionally surgeons would have tried to correct this problem by installing a metal plate below the knee. However, with this technique the bone is broken through a tiny incision and then realigned using the externally fitted appliance.

Over a course of weeks, from home, the patient turns a small screw to gently correct the alignment. The patient made a full recovery and was so pleased with his treatment he decided to make the donation. Last Wednesday the Advertiser was invited to look around the centre and meet some of the eight junior doctors, many of whom came from far afield for this training course, working with the new equipment.