NJR Elbow Audit

Elbow joint replacement data has been collected by the registry since 2012 – and in 2023 we conducted an audit of all elbow procedures. The audit involved a comparison of NJR data against Hospital Episode Data (HES) to look for missing or inaccurate records and then investigative follow-up to bring the associated procedures onto the registry retrospectively. The audit work was supported widely by the involvement of many members of the British Orthopaedic Trainees Association (BOTA) and we are very grateful for their diligent focus in achieving what became a significant audit outcome.

Missing or inaccurate data had impacted the volume of elbow procedures in the registry and through the work on the audit we nearly doubled the number of elbow procedures on the registry – increasing the volume from 6,544 procedures to 11,090, thus making the registry the largest collection of elbow procedures worldwide and a very valuable resource.

The data in the registry is used for the analysis of surgical outcomes, so a robust and complete dataset is important to ensure any outcome results are accurate and complete.

Dr Zaid Hamoodi, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Research Fellow, talks below on the impact the NJR elbow audit has had in the quality of the data.

Here Professor Adam Watts talks about the importance of data quality, especially in low-volume procedures such as elbows.