NJR eBulletin: February 2017

The NJR held a successful one-day educational conference on improving data quality and collection for hospital staff from across the UK.

The regional event, which took place at The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, on Wednesday (8 February 2017) attracted over 90 key stakeholders involved with joint replacement surgery from both the NHS and independent sector.

The action packed programme included presentations on improving data quality, service developments from the registry and also sessions on how the NJR works in practice for patients.

Read the full round-up from the day here >
Click here to download the NJR presentations >
Click here to view the live Tweets from the day >
Click here to view the photos from the day >

The National Joint Registry is delighted to announce the publication of the latest editions of its Public and Patient Guides (PPGs) to joint replacement surgery.

The guides include information on Annual Report facts and analysis, including introduction to joint replacement surgery and x-rays about hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacements.

Public and Patient Guides to the 13th Annual Report:

Please do share this information with friends, family and/ or colleagues via:

The NHS Choices website was today (Tuesday 10 January 2017) updated with the latest data and statistics on joint replacement surgery as part of NHS England’s openness and transparency programme.

Since 2013, NHS England has carried out a clinical outcomes publication (COP) programme, which includes orthopaedics, publishing data at both hospital and individual consultant-level via NHS Choices and on the NJR’s dedicated Surgeon and Hospital Profile website.

For orthopaedics, the COP programme is underpinned with data collected and analysed by the National Joint Registry and continues to be developed in partnership the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA).

Visit the Surgeon and Hospital Profile website here >

If you notice any errors with the publication of your data, please contact NJR Regional Coordinator Team Leader, Inez Dunn in the first instance: inez.dunn@northgateps.com.

There have recently been numerous news articles (Guardian / Daily Mail) outlining that due to financial pressures on the NHS, some providers have recently suggested a temporary suspension of joint replacement procedures.

Back in September, as part of the NJR's Annual Report launch, NJR medical director, Mr Martyn Porter, argued that registry data shows rationing is not rational, saying:

"The evidence from the report suggests that rationing is not rational. Joint replacement surgery is not a lifestyle operation, it is primarily an operation to relieve pain, keep people at work and free patients from community care. The taxpayer will not save money by providers denying joint replacements to patients as these are highly effective and cost effective procedures.”

Read Martyn Porter's full comment here >

More via Twitter >

The National Joint Registry is delighted to report that it is continuing the mandatory audit programme to retrospectively check the quality of local registry data and hospitals’ commitment to patient safety. Independent sector organisations will also be included in the programme for 2016/17.

All Trusts, Local Health Boards, and independent units have been contacted with relevant instructions about how to engage with the programme (see link below).

Read the full details and download the Sample correspondence sent to all Trusts, LHBs and the IS here >

If you wish to know more, then please contact the NJR via the dedicated data audit e-mail address: NJR.dataquality@nhs.net.

Please do share this information with colleagues and others in your department.