Benenden Hospital is celebrating after being named as a National Joint Registry (NJR) Quality Data Provider having successfully completed a national programme of local data audits.
What is the National Joint Registry?
The National Joint Registry (NJR) monitors the performance of hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacement operations. Their goal is to improve clinical outcomes primarily for the benefit of patients and also to support orthopaedic clinicians and industry manufacturers.
The registry collects high quality orthopaedic data in order to provide evidence to support patient safety, standards in quality of care, and overall cost-effectiveness in joint replacement surgery. The ‘NJR Quality Data Provider’ certificate scheme was introduced to offer hospitals a blueprint for reaching high quality standards relating to patient safety and to reward those who have met registry targets.
How do hospitals achieve the NJR award?
In order to achieve the award, hospitals are required to meet a series of six ambitious targets during the audit period 2020/21. One of the targets which hospitals are required to complete is compliance with the NJR’s mandatory national audit aimed at assessing data completeness and quality within the registry.
The NJR Data Quality Audit investigates the number of joint replacement procedures submitted to the registry compared to the number carried out and recorded in the local hospital Patient Administration System. The audit ensures that the NJR is collecting and reporting upon the most complete, accurate data possible across all hospitals performing joint replacement operations — including Benenden Hospital.
NJR targets also include having a high level of patients consenting for their details to be included in the registry and for hospitals to demonstrate timely responses to any alerts issued by the NJR in relation to potential patient safety concerns.
Benenden Hospital's commitment to safety
Commenting, Claire Harley, Director of Patient Services at Benenden Hospital said:
“As a team we are delighted to be awarded the NJR quality Data provider gold award for the third year running. We value the important work of the National Joint Registry which supports our commitment to continuous improvement and focus on achieving the very best outcome for our patients.“
Full details about the NJR’s Quality Data Provider certificate scheme can be found online at: www.njrcentre.org.uk
Published on 09 January 2024