University Hospitals of North Midlands awarded for commitment to patient safety

University Hospitals of North Midlands has been recognised for its commitment towards patient safety in a national scheme which benefits hospitals and future patients by rewarding best practice against ambitious standards.

County Hospital in Stafford is celebrating after being named as a National Joint Registry (NJR) Quality Data Provider after successfully completing a national programme of local data audits.

The NJR monitors the performance of hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacement operations to improve clinical outcomes primarily for the benefit of patients, but also to support orthopaedic clinicians and industry manufacturers.  The registry collects high quality orthopaedic data in order to provide evidence to support patient safety, standards in quality of care, and overall cost-effectiveness in joint replacement surgery.

To achieve the award, hospitals are required to meet a series of six ambitious targets during the audit period 2020/21. One of the targets which hospitals are required to complete is compliance with the NJR’s mandatory national audit aimed at assessing data completeness and quality within the registry.

The NJR Data Quality Audit investigates the accurate number of joint replacement procedures submitted to the registry compared to the number carried out and recorded in the local hospital Patient Administration System. The audit ensures that the NJR is collecting and reporting upon the most complete, accurate data possible across all hospitals performing joint replacement operations, including County Hospital.

Victoria Lewis, Quality Assurance Manager at UHNM said: “We are delighted to be awarded as an ‘NJR Quality Data Provider’. The Clinical Audit Team work exceptionally hard to ensure the data provided to the national audit is timely and accurate. “It is great to see that their hard work has been acknowledged.”