Introduction to the NJR
Hip and knee joint replacements have become common and highly successful operations that bring many patients improved mobility and relief from pain.
A number of people may at some time in the future need another operation on the same joint. This may occur for a variety of reasons, most commonly because the joint implant has worn out. There are many different types of hip and knee implants, many of which do not have data on their long-term effectiveness.
To further improve the success of this surgery, the Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly Government set up the National Joint Registry (NJR) to monitor the performance of joint implants.
The NJR is designed to record details of all hip and knee replacement operations in England and Wales. Both the NHS and the independent healthcare sector are included, and to be successful the NJR needs to gather information on as many people having these operations as possible.
How will the NJR benefit me?
The NJR will be used to bring direct benefits to patients by:
- improving patient awareness of the outcomes of hip and knee replacements
- finding out how long the different joint replacements last
- helping to identify individual patients who have received an implant if there is a need for urgent clinical review.
The NJR will also be used to bring additional long-term benefits by:
- providing feedback to orthopaedic surgeons and teams to help maintain high clinical standards
- promoting open publication of the performance of implants
- providing feedback on implant performance to regulatory authorities
- providing feedback to suppliers about the performance of their implants
- monitoring and comparing the performance of hospitals.