Worcestershire Royal hospital awarded for commitment to patient safety by the National Joint Registry (NJR)

The award recognises the high standards of patient safety achieved for orthopaedic surgery on hips, knees, ankles, elbows and shoulders at the county’s hospitals.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust – which runs the Alexandra, Kidderminster and Worcestershire Royal hospitals - completed local data audits and met six targets relating to patient safety to be awarded as a quality data provider.

The NJR is a national health watchdog that monitors the performance of hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacement operations in hospitals across the country in order to improve clinical outcomes for the benefit of patients.

Data is collected on these surgeries in order to ensure quality, evidence and standards for joint replacement surgery are as effective and safe as possible.

The National Joint Registry is currently the largest registry of its kind in the world.

Charles Docker, clinical lead for Trauma and Orthopaedics said: "Good data is essential for patient safety as it means patients can be confident in the outcomes of surgery at the hospital and so this unique award demonstrates the high standards we are meeting in our hospitals.

"The award is also a good story for patients as it gives an opportunity to inform patients of how we use data from their surgery to protect them and our future patients."

Dr Suneil Kapadia, chief medical officer for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Improving patient safety is of the utmost importance and something we all take very seriously, so we are very proud that our efforts have been recognised with this award.

"These awards demonstrate that we are collecting the most complete and accurate information possible which helps the NJR make many of their decisions regarding quality of care and patient safety as well as overall cost effectiveness of joint replacement surgery."

National Joint Registry medical director, Mr Martyn Porter, said: "Congratulations to colleagues at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. The Quality Data Provider award demonstrates the high standards being met towards ensuring compliance with the NJR and is often a strong reflection of a departmental effort to achieve such status.

"It is clear that for surgeons and patients alike, the necessity for having accurate and complete data is an absolute requirement."

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