SOLENCEHEALTHLooked after, all the way

Back on your feet, somewhere you already know.

Hip and knee replacement at Platonas Medical Center in Nicosia, Cyprus, for patients from Ireland and the UK. One price agreed before you travel, and one person beside you until you are home.

What needs attention?
Where are you writing from?

A written reply within four working hours. No obligation at any point.

A couple in their early sixties laughing together at a table on a sunny stone terrace in a village, with blue shutters, bougainvillea and an olive tree behind them

Your fortnight, from the first call to the flight home.

Every step below is arranged before you leave home, and the same person looks after all of it. Meet the hospital and your surgeon

  1. Within four working hours

    You tell us about your hip or knee

    A written reply says whether we can help, how, and what happens next. Then you meet your surgeon at a consultation that costs you nothing, before you decide anything.

  2. Before you book a flight

    One price, in writing

    The operation, the hospital, your accommodation, transfers, rehabilitation and aftercare in a single figure. Nothing is added to it when you arrive.

  3. Day 1

    Someone waiting at arrivals

    Your Patient Manager meets you at the airport and stays with you, at every appointment and at the end of the telephone at nine at night.

  4. Days 2 to 14

    Rehabilitation every day

    You stay and recover properly, with physiotherapy daily, rather than being sent home a few days after the operation to manage alone.

    Two women walking arm in arm across a sunny park lawn

  5. Around day 15

    You fly home walking

    With every document your own GP needs, written in English, and follow-up calls from us once you are back.

    An older couple laughing as they walk together on a sunny path between cypress trees
A carer with her arm around an older woman, both laughing on a walk in the park

One person who knows your case, from the first call to the last.

You concentrate on getting better. Everything around the operation is ours.

The right surgeon and hospital
Your case is reviewed by the orthopaedic team at Platonas Medical Center, where Dr Alex Kroushovski is our primary surgeon, and you meet your surgeon at a consultation that costs you nothing.
Your own Patient Manager
Meets you at the airport, comes to your appointments, looks after the person travelling with you, and answers the telephone at nine at night.
Your own GP, kept informed
We work alongside your GP from the start and prepare everything they need in English before you fly home.
The white, glass-fronted building of Platonas Medical Center in Nicosia under a blue sky
Platonas Medical Center, Nicosia.

Your operation, at Platonas Medical Center in Nicosia.

Platonas is a private hospital that brings surgery, hospital care and rehabilitation together under one roof, so the team that operates is the team that gets you walking again. Depending on what you need, rehabilitation can include physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, occupational therapy and gait analysis.

The hospital is CHKS accredited, following an independent assessment against recognised healthcare standards.

Portrait of Dr Alex Kroushovski

Dr Alex Kroushovski

Orthopaedic surgeon, our primary surgeon

Dr Kroushovski graduated with honours from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and is a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He completed his specialist training in orthopaedics and trauma in Thessaloniki, and has trained and practised in both the United Kingdom and Cyprus.

Reading this for your mum or dad?

You can fill in the form for them. Every answer we give comes in writing, so you can read it together and take your time. If you travel with them, their Patient Manager looks after you as well.

Ask on their behalf
An older woman and her adult daughter smiling over a tablet at home

Where are you writing from?

What your own doctor does, how the paperwork works and how your recovery carries on at home differ on each side of the Irish Sea. Each page explains it for you.

Republic of Ireland Waiting on a public list for a hip or knee? Cyprus is in the EU, an easy flight away, English is spoken everywhere and the euro is already in your pocket. For patients in Ireland United Kingdom Tired of waiting, or told you must wait? For England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Cyprus drives on the left, speaks your language, and has been a second home to British families for generations. Northern Ireland has a scheme of its own, which we explain. For patients in the UK
The arcaded stone buildings around the Archbishop's Palace in old Nicosia
Nicosia, where Platonas Medical Center is.
A quiet street in Limassol old town with balconies and climbing flowers
Limassol, where Solence is based.

Not as far as it sounds, and nothing like as foreign.

  • An EU country, with doctors on European registers and hospitals working to European rules.
  • Consultants trained in Ireland, the UK and across Europe, practising in English.
  • English on the road signs, on the menus and in the hospital corridor.
  • Warm, dry and bright for most of the year, which makes two weeks of rehabilitation something to get up for.
  • Familiar. Many people already know Cyprus from a holiday, or have family and friends living here.
Two older couples chatting over drinks at a cafe table

Back home, we are still a phone call away.

Your GP has everything they need, written in English, before you land. And we keep in touch with follow-up calls to see how you are getting on.

The questions people ask us first.

Anything not answered here, ask us directly. Every question gets a written answer, usually within four working hours.

Ask your own question
How long would I be away?

About fifteen days from landing to flying home. Consultation and pre-operative tests at the start, then surgery, then the rehabilitation, which is the part that decides how the joint turns out. Most of that fortnight is spent working with the same physiotherapist, in the same place, every day.

I am nervous about having surgery in another country.

Most people are, and we would be wary of anyone who told you it was a small thing. What usually settles it is detail. Who is operating and where they trained. Which hospital, and what the room looks like. What the first morning after is like. Who is beside you, and who answers the phone at nine at night. Ask us all of it before you decide anything.

Who is doing the operation?

In most cases Dr Alex Kroushovski, our primary surgeon at Platonas Medical Center in Nicosia. He graduated with honours from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, is a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and has trained and practised in both the United Kingdom and Cyprus. Whoever operates, you will have their name and registration number in writing before you commit to anything.

What does it cost?

It depends on the joint, on the approach your surgeon recommends and on what you need around it, so we quote your case rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for half the people reading it. Ask, and you will have it in writing, all in, before you decide anything. One price, fixed before you travel, and it does not rise when you arrive.

Why Cyprus, rather than somewhere cheaper?

If price is the only thing that matters, there are cheaper places to have a hip or knee replaced, and we will not pretend otherwise. People choose Cyprus because it is familiar: English everywhere, an EU country, somewhere they have often been before, and a fortnight of proper rehabilitation in the sun rather than a flight home within days.

Do I need scans or a referral before I get in touch?

No. Tell us what has been happening and we will take it from there. If you already have recent X-rays or a letter from your consultant, they help us answer you properly, and we will tell you how to send them. If not, we will tell you what is needed and when.

Does someone have to come with me?

No, although most people bring someone: a husband or wife, a son or daughter, or a friend, and we would rather they did. The accommodation is arranged for two either way, and they are welcome at the hospital. If you come on your own, your Patient Manager is with you at every appointment and at the end of the telephone.

When am I allowed to fly home?

When your surgeon says so, and it is written down before you leave. Nobody puts you on an aeroplane to suit a schedule.

Do I need insurance?

We strongly recommend insurance that covers medical travel and surgical complications. It is your decision rather than a condition of travelling with us, and we will set out plainly what it means for you if you travel without it.

What happens if something goes wrong once I am home?

You ring the person who looked after you here, not a switchboard, and that number does not stop working when you land. You come home with the operation note, the discharge summary and a written aftercare plan in English, so whoever sees you is not starting from your description of it.

Can I get any of the cost back at home?

That depends entirely on where you live, and the rules are different on each side of the Irish Sea. The pages for Ireland and for the United Kingdom set out what applies to you, plainly.

Or, if you have a surgeon in mind, we bring the surgeon to you.

With Solence Select, an internationally recognised specialist from Israel, elsewhere in the EU or the United States travels to Cyprus and operates on you here, with the same hospital, the same Patient Manager and the same single price agreed in advance. Ask for both and you receive two written proposals side by side.

How Select works

Tell us a little about your hip or knee.

What has been happening, how long it has been going on, and what you would like to be able to do again. You will have a reply in writing within four working hours, and you are under no obligation at any point.

Ask about your case