Gold status has been awarded to Medway Maritime Hospital for the second year running under a scheme which recognises the successful completion of local data audits in relation to patient safety.
The National Joint Registry (NJR) Quality Data Provider collects information on all hip, knee, ankle, elbow, and shoulder replacement operations, to monitor the performance of joint replacement implants and the effectiveness of different types of surgery, improving clinical standards to benefit patients.
Under the ‘NJR Quality Data Provider’ award scheme, hospitals can achieve gold, silver or bronze status for reaching patient safety standards and targets. In order to achieve ‘Gold’, the hospital had to achieve a 99 to 100 per cent compliance rate for the number of joint replacement procedures submitted to the registry matching the number carried out and recorded on its Patient Administration System (PAS).
Receiving the award acknowledges both the high standards being met by Medway Maritime Hospital and its’ effort to achieve compliance with the registry.
Howard Cottam, Medical Director of Surgery and Anaesthetics for Medway NHS Foundation Trust which operates the hospital, said: “We are really proud to receive the Gold NJR Quality Data Provider award. Inaccurate or missing data can compromise patient safety, so we’re delighted to be recognised for our culture of data collection. Congratulations to everyone involved in keeping our information accurate and to a high standard to support patient safety.”
Tim Wilton, Medical Director of National Joint Registry, said: “Congratulations to colleagues at Medway Maritime Hospital.
“As well as being a fundamental driver to inform improved quality of care for patients, registry data provides an important source of evidence for regulators, such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC), to inform their judgements about the quality of health services.”
Since January 2024, more than 850 joint replacement operations have been carried out by surgeons at the hospital.
Now, thanks to the hospital expanding its same-day surgery pathway, suitable patients who undergo hip and knee replacements are going home on the day of their operation instead of staying in overnight or longer.
Jamie Murison was one of the first hip replacement day case patients. He praised staff for giving him ‘his life back’ and helping him on the road to recovery in record time. You can read Jamie’s story on the hospital’s website.