7 January 2020
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust has been recognised for the high quality data it provides about joint replacement surgery.
The Trust has been named as a National Joint Registry (NJR) Quality Data Provider after successfully completing a national programme of local data audits.
Frimley Health runs Frimley Park Hospital near Camberley, Surrey, Wexham Park Hospital in Slough and Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, both in Berkshire
The NJR monitors the performance of hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacement operations to improve clinical outcomes for the benefit of patients, clinicians and industry.
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 trusts a blueprint for reaching high quality standards relating to patient safety and reward those that have met registry targets.
In order to achieve the award, hospitals must meet six ambitious targets during the audit period 2017/18. One of the targets 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 accurate 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 hospital trusts performing joint replacement operations, including Frimley Health.
NJR targets also include having a high level of patients consenting for their details to be included in the registry and for demonstrating timely responses to any alerts issued by the NJR in relation to potential patient safety concerns, if necessary.
Alison Szewczyk, interim director of nursing and quality at Frimley Health, said: “Improving patient safety is of the utmost importance and something all staff take very seriously. We fully support the National Joint Registry’s work in facilitating improvement in clinical outcomes and governance for the benefit of joint replacement patients and we’re delighted to be awarded as an NJR Quality Data Provider.”
National Joint Registry medical director Tim Wilton said: “Congratulations to colleagues at Frimley Health. 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 now 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.”