Government: NJR should be seen as the "basis for quality and outcomes measurements"

As the Government sets out its healthcare strategy for the coming term, it has highlighted the National Joint Registry - managed and run by HQIP - as a best practice example measuring quality to improve patient outcomes.

Addressing the British Medical Association (BMA) earlier this month, Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley told delegates the coalition would solidly focus on patient engagement and empowering clinicians in order to improve healthcare outcomes.

"Patients must be at the heart of everything we do - as more than simply beneficiaries of care, but as participants in its design," Lansley told the BMA.

Lansley went on to say his aim was to build a system ‘focused on improving results for patients' based on ‘measuring those things that really matter'. He added that the final step in achieving this was to improve access to information.

"Better information means better care," Lansley said. "In England and Wales, our own National Joint Registry opened in 2003 and it is now delivering feedback to clinicians to help improve the quality and outcomes of hip and knee replacement operations. It should become a basis for quality and outcomes measurements and for information to patients to support choice."

The National Joint Registry is the largest database of its kind in the world, with close to one million records collated to date. The latest expansion saw ankle replacements join the database in June this year following a successful pilot scheme.

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