• Bolton NHS Foundation Trust awarded gold by National Joint Registry for commitment to patient safety
• The registry monitors performance of joint replacement procedures
• Data quality audit programme works to improve clinical outcomes for the benefit of patients

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is celebrating receiving a gold level award from the National Joint Registry (NJR) for its commitment to patient safety.

The Trust successfully completed a national data quality audit programme, which is monitored by the NJR for the performance of hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacement procedures to support work to improve the clinical outcomes for the benefit of patients.

The programme also to provides feedback on surgical performance to orthopaedic clinicians and joint replacement implant manufacturers.

The registry collects high quality orthopaedic data in order to support patient safety, standards in quality of care, and overall value in joint replacement surgery.

Dr. Francis Andrews, Medical Director at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said:

Improving patient safety is of the upmost importance and something we all take very seriously.

“It’s fantastic to see the hard work and dedication of staff making a difference to patient safety and for that commitment to be recognised nationally.

“We fully support the National Joint Registry’s work in facilitating improvement in clinical outcomes for the benefit of joint replacement patients and we’re delighted to be awarded as an ‘NJR Quality Data Provider’.

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 the registry’s high  targets in the achievement of the quality of the data collected.

The NJR Data Quality Audit compares the number of joint replacement procedures submitted to the registry 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 Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.

Medical Director of the National Joint Registry, Mr Tim Wilton, said:

Congratulations to Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.

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

“The Quality Data Provider Award received by the team demonstrates the high standards being met towards ensuring compliance with the NJR and is a reflection of strong departmental efforts to achieve such status.

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