Published on: 8th August 2024

As the UK’s leading specialist orthopaedic hospital, our vision at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital is one of continuous improvement enhancing our worldwide profile for outstanding patient care, research and education. We strive to provide the best experience for patients and staff in the NHS.

We’re committed to delivering care and treatment in accordance with the principles set out in the revised NHS Constitution and to using the NHS Values, which are embodied in the Trust’s organisational values. Our values are at the heart of all we do:

  • Patients first always
  • Equality for all
  • Trust, honesty and respect for each other
  • Excellence in all we do

RNOH believes the platform X/Twitter is currently not a safe, healthy or inclusive environment to engage and interact with our communities, and does not reflect our values, nor those of the NHS:

·         Working together for patients

·         Respect and dignity

·         Commitment to quality of care

·         Compassion

·         Improving lives

Throughout the past 12-months or so, we have all witnessed an increased volume of hate speech and abusive commentary on X/Twitter.  This is alongside the sustained spread and promotion of misinformation about vaccinations as well as other important issues that require reasoned, fact-based exploration and discussion.

For this reason, after 13 years, we have made the decision to close our X/Twitter account from Friday 9 August and posted our last tweet today (Thursday 8 August).

We are proud of the diverse backgrounds of our RNOH team and the communities we care for. Their safety is a priority for RNOH and extends to online as well as physical spaces. Sadly, X/Twitter has become increasingly used for the spread of hate and discrimination, often targeting specific groups in our communities. RNOH will no longer be associated with the platform.

RNOH values free speech and recognises that many issues can be contentious and controversial with sincerely held views on many sides. Those views can – and often are – expressed robustly and with passion. But that debate must also be civil and respectful at all times.

We will remain active on our other social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

We hope you will join us on these platforms as we continue our work in delivering the very best care to our patients and create safes spaces for our colleagues at RNOH and the wider NHS.