NJR Editorial Committee

Chair’s report 2025 – Mr Andrew Porteous

The NJR Editorial Committee brings together a range of contributors to plan and develop our Annual Report content. The committee membership is made up of expert clinicians from the orthopaedic specialist societies for each joint, representatives of other key NJR committees (e.g. Research), representatives from our experienced data collection and statistical analysis reporting teams and senior members of the NJR management team. Patient and industry representatives complete the report team and enable the considered development and subsequent publication of the report each year. The Annual Report is the main focus of the work of the committee, but members are also responsible for the planning and delivery of the NJR plenary session at the annual British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) Congress, where the Annual Report is usually launched together with a programme of presentations showcasing the wide range and impact of our work.

The main work of the committee can only start once the relevant component dataset has been defined and analysed by the teams from NEC and the University of Bristol. During the past year a number of changes were made to the implant component database which resulted in delays to the availability of data and the normal timings of analysis. This led to the delay in the availability of all the necessary reports such that the full 2023 NJR Annual Report was not available in time for the BOA Congress, but all of the joint sections were available on the website by the end of the calendar year. This delay was unavoidable and the changes to the implant database will have a positive impact going forward by allowing greater granularity of detail and analysis, while also reducing the number of implants that we cannot analyse due to unvalidated construct data. The benefits of the changes to the implant database will be highlighted and discussed at the NJR plenary session at the BOA meeting in September 2025.

It is expected that minimal changes to the dataset will occur for the 22^nd Annual Report, which makes it likely that the report will be available on time. One of the changes imposed by the previous data delays, was the move to producing different sections of the report as they became available. This has added to the flexibility in the timings of the report outputs and this modification is being maintained this year, which enables us to produce sections of the annual report as they become available, rather than all reports being delayed until the final combined report is complete. The Annual Report is now only available in electronic format and the website will allow searching or downloading of individual section reports as well as the combined full report. Notifications will be issued as each new section report is added to the website. Specific joint section reports and the complete AR21 can all be found on our dedicated website here.

The Editorial Committee has always supported the NJR’s research study programme and is delighted to see the expansion of research using NJR data and collaborative research being shaped by NJR Research Committee Chair, Professor Mark Wilkinson. The Editorial Committee supported the publication of abstracts of key research projects in the 21^st Annual Report and will be continuing this for the 22^nd Annual Report, as well as including podium presentation of four key research papers in the NJR plenary session at the BOA Congress in Liverpool in September 2025. Poster presentations of further NJR research will be shown on the NJR information stand. Summaries of recent NJR-supported research papers are also available on the report website and we encourage you to explore further here.

Each year we aim to make progress in reporting on our rich data resource to make it easier for clinicians to access meaningful information and enable them to make wise implant choices with the aim of improving patient outcomes. The analysis now contains detailed information on implant performance and survivorship up to a maximum of 21.75 years. Details of implant and unit-level activity and performance can be found in more detail in the specific document in the Downloads area. The electronic reports with more flexible search and analysis options have been well-received by visitors to the NJR Reports website. There is ongoing work to strengthen this report website further, as we work on the enhancement of the report in an HTML format.

Key to the work of the committee is the hard work of all the committee members. We have seen changes to the committee personnel this year with Prof. Mike Reed completing his term as Chair and Sebastian Dawson-Bowling ending his term as RCC representative. The Committee wish to thank them both for the huge amount of time and effort they contributed to the Editorial Committee and also thank Prof. Reed for the valuable leadership he provided over the years. Andrew Porteous has taken over as Chair of the committee and Prof. Leela Biant has moved into the position he vacated as BASK Representative. Mr Jaime Candal-Couto has joined as BESS shoulder representative.

The 22nd NJR Annual Report will be formally launched at the BOA Annual Congress in Liverpool in September 2025, with sections available online as they become available. The NJR plenary session at the BOA will be held on Wednesday 17th September 08.30 – 10.00 and we hope that as many people as possible will join us for an informative and interactive session and to celebrate the launch.