National Joint Registry: 19th Annual Report

Published: 01 Dec 2022

The National Joint Registry (NJR) collects information about hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacement operations (arthroplasty) from all participating hospitals in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the States of Guernsey. As the largest data collection of its kind in the world, the NJR has been described in UK Parliament as a global exemplar of an implantable medical devices registry.

The Registry’s purpose is to record patient information and provide data on: the performance and longevity of replacement joint implants; the surgical outcomes for the hospitals where these operations are carried out; and the performance outcomes of the surgeons who conduct the procedures.

They have produced this Annual Report, summarising their work and sharing the analysis of data for the past year, visually in tables and graphs, for procedures across each of the joints, as well as implant and hospital outcomes. The report this year has a special feature on the considerations around how PROMs outcome data might be incorporated with NJR routine data to include the very valuable patients’ perspective on the success of joint replacement outcomes. This report also includes some short excerpts which showcase the value of the rich data pool in contributing to NJR’s supported orthopaedic research activity.

Registry data for the surgery that has taken place this past year have again been analysed by expert statisticians and the results published with the continued aim of enhancing safety and improving clinical outcomes for the benefit of patients and the whole orthopaedic healthcare sector – device outcome results are also shared with implant manufacturers.

The work of the NJR and the contribution of patients

The Registry has shown that orthopaedic surgery, as one of the main uses of implant devices in the UK, is demonstrating the highest standards of patient safety with regard to their use. Patient representatives are actively involved in NJR’s workstreams and committees. With around 3.7 million records, registry data are also made available under strict security conditions to medical and academic researchers, to further progress the pool of work in measuring and understanding which practices provide better outcomes.

Their data collection and analysis work provides the evidence to drive continuous development and implementation of measures, to ensure implant safety and the enhancement of patient outcomes is always top of the agenda alongside a focus on reduced revision rates year on year; as well as improvements in standards in quality of care, whilst also addressing overall cost-effectiveness in joint replacement surgery.

NJR is very grateful to all patients, who having undergone a joint replacement, have provided their data to the NJR over the years, which has enabled them to collect and develop such a rich and valuable data source. The Registry is also appreciative of the work of data entry staff in all participating hospitals, who willingly engage in stringent data quality award programmes to ensure information is of high quality, accurate, and as complete as is possible.

Click here to download the report.