Bridlington Hospital is celebrating after being named as a National Joint Registry (NJR) Quality Data Provider after reaching high quality standards for patient safety.  

The NJR monitors the performance of hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacement operations to improve clinical outcomes primarily for the benefit of patients, but 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.

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 is to comply with the NJR’s mandatory national audit, aimed at assessing data completeness and quality within the registry. 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 Bridlington 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.

Karen Cowley, Associate Chief Operating Officer for Orthopaedics at York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which runs Bridlington Hospital, said: “Improving patient safety is of the utmost importance and something all staff take very seriously.  We’re delighted to be awarded as an ‘NJR Quality Data Provider and fully support the National Joint Registry’s work in facilitating improvement in clinical outcomes and governance for the benefit of joint replacement patients.”

National Joint Registry Medical Director, Mr Tim Wilton, said: “Congratulations to colleagues at Bridlington Hospital. The Quality Data Provider Award demonstrates the high standards being met towards ensuring compliance with the NJR and is often a reflection of strong departmental efforts to achieve such status.

“Registry data provides an important source of evidence for regulators, such as the Care Quality Commission, to inform their judgements about services, as well as being a fundamental driver to inform improved quality of care for patients.”

Full details about the NJR’s Quality Data Provider certificate scheme can be found online at:  https://www.njrcentre.org.uk.

15 August 2022