Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital receives award for commitment to patient safety from the National Joint Registry

Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital 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.

The orthopaedic teams at Spire Cambridge Lea hospital carry out more procedures than any other private hospital in Cambridgeshire, making it the leading centre for joint surgery within the county. In 2021 and 2020 the teams performed nearly 50% more joint procedures than any other private hospital in the county and patients travel from all over the country to be treated by its specialist teams.

Commenting, Sara Morgan, Director of Clinical Services at Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital , said: “Patient safety is as the centre of everything we do and that is why this award and the recognition for what we do is so special. Continually improving patient safety, for those under our care, is of the upmost importance and something all staff take very seriously.

"Ultimately we want our patients to return to the best they can be following surgery at our hospital. Therefore, we fully support the National Joint Registry’s work in facilitating improvement in clinical outcomes and governance for the benefit of joint replacement patients and we’re delighted to be awarded as an ‘NJR Quality Data Provider’.”

The ‘NJR Quality Data Provider’ certificate scheme was introduced to offer hospitals a blueprint for reaching high quality standards relating to patient safety and to reward those who have met registry targets.

In order to achieve the award, hospitals are required to meet a series of six ambitious targets during the audit period 2019/20. 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 Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital.

National Joint Registry Medical Director, Mr Tim Wilton, said:

“Congratulations to colleagues at Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital. The Quality Data Provider Award demonstrates the high standards being met towards ensuring compliance with the NJR and is often a reflection of strong departmental efforts to achieve such status.

Registry data now provides an important source of evidence for regulators, such as the Care Quality Commission, to inform their judgements about services, as well as being a fundamental driver to inform improved quality of care for patients.”

Full details about the NJR’s Quality Data Provider certificate scheme can be found online at: www.njrcentre.org.uk