{"id":3722,"date":"2024-10-07T16:48:14","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T15:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T15:00:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:00:19","slug":"manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/","title":{"rendered":"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]One of Manchester\u2019s hidden health gems invited patients from across the region to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The Specialised Ability Centre in Wythenshawe has helped thousands of amputees over that time, with support available for babies up to the very oldest people.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Run by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, they have become one of England\u2019s largest and most successful amputee and prosthetics services.<\/p>\n

With Opcare as the prosthetic provider at the same site, the service builds each limb in house and customises them for every individual they support. These can range from the more standard designs, all the way up to something as complex as a bionic hand.<\/p>\n

This means workshops working every day to craft the limbs from scratch and clinical teams helping perfect the fit for each patient. In some cases, limbs are painted by hand to match the patient\u2019s other original limb or custom finishes are applied \u2013 with superheroes and Disney themes being popular among the younger patients.<\/p>\n

\"\"One of their most recent patients is John Knight, who came to the service after losing his leg below the knee. He joined one of the behind-the-scenes tours being provided for patients during the event and said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been fascinating to see all the work shops and the work that goes into perfecting all the different limbs. As a patient you don\u2019t see it, you just come in, do your physio, get measured up and a limb comes back. You don\u2019t appreciate how much craft goes into them.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir work will give me my life back. I lost my leg as I originally had a diabetic foot ulcer, over six years it spread until I was unfortunately told my leg would have to be amputated. My house is up a row of stairs, so with me currently being in a wheelchair I can\u2019t ever leave home on my own.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a prosthetic replacement will completely change that, the support I\u2019ve received to get there is a credit to the people who work here and the NHS. They\u2019re giving me my life back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Lara Littler, Centre Manager for the service, explained more about the life changing services they provide:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst we do provide prosthetic limbs of all varieties, we\u2019re also the wheelchair centre service for Manchester and Trafford and provide orthotics services for adults and children. Our patients don\u2019t just get a limb and are then waved on their way, they will always be with as we repair and update their prosthetics.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the youngest patients, we\u2019ll be supporting parents before the child is even born and then consistently being with them as that child grows. We definitely feel like a family and the people we have supported have given us some heartwarming memories.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cEqually some of the adults we have supported will stay with us even if they move out of area, such is the connection and reputation we have \u2013 we\u2019ve had some still come here after moving as far away as Portsmouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of advancement we have seen in prosthetics with Opcare over the last ten years has been a revolution. It\u2019s now the new norm that someone who meets the criteria can have something like a bionic hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the people\u2019s stories that make the job for us. Whether it\u2019s a Paralympian or someone who just wants to experience the world as they did before, hearing how our work has genuinely changed lives never gets old.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]One of Manchester\u2019s hidden health gems invited patients from across the region to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The Specialised Ability Centre in Wythenshawe has helped thousands of amputees over that time, with support available for babies up to the very oldest people. Run by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, they have become one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":3724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten - Wythenshawe Hospital<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten - Wythenshawe Hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]One of Manchester\u2019s hidden health gems invited patients from across the region to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The Specialised Ability Centre in Wythenshawe has helped thousands of amputees over that time, with support available for babies up to the very oldest people. Run by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, they have become one of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wythenshawe Hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-07T15:48:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T15:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"matthewr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"matthewr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"matthewr\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#\/schema\/person\/0598fc606bea1ffaa613aa2225647581\"},\"headline\":\"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-07T15:48:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-23T15:00:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/\"},\"wordCount\":611,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/\",\"name\":\"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten - Wythenshawe Hospital\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-07T15:48:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-23T15:00:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#\/schema\/person\/0598fc606bea1ffaa613aa2225647581\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/\",\"name\":\"Wythenshawe Hospital\",\"description\":\"Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust Site - Wythenshawe Hospital\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#\/schema\/person\/0598fc606bea1ffaa613aa2225647581\",\"name\":\"matthewr\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/202348a58de7381ce96b8d961d677ec6d3898103055fb559c234cc1f822b248e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/202348a58de7381ce96b8d961d677ec6d3898103055fb559c234cc1f822b248e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"matthewr\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/author\/matthewr\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten - Wythenshawe Hospital","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten - Wythenshawe Hospital","og_description":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]One of Manchester\u2019s hidden health gems invited patients from across the region to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The Specialised Ability Centre in Wythenshawe has helped thousands of amputees over that time, with support available for babies up to the very oldest people. Run by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, they have become one of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/","og_site_name":"Wythenshawe Hospital","article_published_time":"2024-10-07T15:48:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-23T15:00:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"matthewr","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"matthewr","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/"},"author":{"name":"matthewr","@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#\/schema\/person\/0598fc606bea1ffaa613aa2225647581"},"headline":"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten","datePublished":"2024-10-07T15:48:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-23T15:00:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/"},"wordCount":611,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/","url":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/","name":"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten - Wythenshawe Hospital","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2024-10-07T15:48:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-23T15:00:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#\/schema\/person\/0598fc606bea1ffaa613aa2225647581"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/app\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/10\/Prosthetics-being-assembled-in-the-work-shop-2-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/manchester-nhs-service-providing-artificial-limbs-for-thousands-turns-ten\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wythenshawe service providing artificial limbs for thousands turns ten"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/","name":"Wythenshawe Hospital","description":"Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust Site - Wythenshawe Hospital","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#\/schema\/person\/0598fc606bea1ffaa613aa2225647581","name":"matthewr","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/202348a58de7381ce96b8d961d677ec6d3898103055fb559c234cc1f822b248e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/202348a58de7381ce96b8d961d677ec6d3898103055fb559c234cc1f822b248e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"matthewr"},"url":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/author\/matthewr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3729,"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions\/3729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/wythenshawe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}