NJR PROMs
(Patient Reported Outcome Measures)

The NJR PROMs project is now LIVE with the first batch of follow-up questionnaires having been sent out in late April.

Background

Currently, all NHS patients who are having hip or knee replacements, varicose vein surgery or groin hernia surgery are being invited to fill in PROMs questionnaires as part of the Department of Health’s PROMs programme. The NHS is asking patients about their health and quality of life before they have an operation, and about their health and the effectiveness of the operation following it. This will help the NHS measure and improve the quality of its care. Combining these ‘patient outcomes’ with the ‘clinical outcomes’ data from the NJR will give a more comprehensive picture of the outcome of operations.

Extending national PROMs

THE NJR has undertaken a project that will extend the PROMs follow-up in order to help surgeons better understand the influences behind the success of joint replacement in the long term. In total, 35,000 NHS patients in England who have their operation over a six-month period, and who agree to take part in both PROMs and the NJR, will receive a questionnaire 12 months after surgery, in addition to the national study’s six-month questionnaire. As part of the NJR PROMs project it is planned to send out further questionnaires three and five years after surgery.

Aim of NJR PROMs project

The aim of the NJR’s extension of PROMs is to provide data that will allow surgeons to understand what influences the success rate of operations from a patient’s perspective. It is hoped this will feed into continued improvements in the treatment of patients.

Professor Alex MacGregor, chair of the NJR Research sub-committee states:

‘This extended data will provide the largest and most comprehensive assessment of the long-term consequences of hip and knee joint replacements and their determinants in England and Wales.’