Frequently Asked Questions

NJR StatsOnline is a service we offer to healthcare professionals, patients, and the public for viewing NJR statistics. These are presented for all NHS hospitals, NHS treatment centres, and private hospitals that carry out hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacements in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Guernsey.

NJR StatsOnline enables you to see how much data hospitals and treatment centres have submitted to the NJR since 1 April 2003. Data are provided for whole months and updated each working day.

The statistics currently available include the:

Total number of procedures submitted to the registry (since 1 April 2003)
Number of hip procedures (collection started 1 April 2003)
Number of knee procedures (collection started 1 April 2003)
Number of ankle procedures (collection started 1 April 2010)
Number of elbow procedures (collection started 1 April 2012)
Number of shoulder procedures (collection started 1 April 2012)
NJR consent rate (percentage of submitted records that have NJR patient consent)

2. Are these statistics up-to-date?

Yes, statistics are updated each working day. Each table indicates the date that the data was updated.

3. Why can't I find my hospital on NJR StatsOnline?

There are several reasons why a hospital may not be listed:

It may not perform hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint operations. Check to see if your local hospital carries out these types of procedures
Check you have typed the hospital name correctly
Try searching by region or by trust and look for the hospital in the listing
The NJR uses the official names for NHS and private hospitals which may differ from names used locally

4. I can see my hospital has submitted some records to the NJR but I thought they carried out more operations than this. Are hospitals required to enter all their data?

In England and Wales, all NHS hospitals and private hospitals are required to submit details of all joint replacement procedures to the NJR. In Northern Ireland, it is mandatory for NHS hospitals only. The NJR measures compliance with the NJR in a number of ways and these are reported on the NJR’s Surgeon and Hospital website .

5. Why don't some hospitals submit data regularly?

Some hospitals collect the data separately and then carry out ‘bulk’ uploads of multiple procedure records, rather than entering them individually in the registry data entry system.

6. I had my operation in hospital "x" but I can't see any data for the month when I had it. Why not?

Although hospitals are required to enter the details of procedures within 30 days of the procedure taking place, some do not. However, it is unlikely that there will be no procedures submitted for a whole month. Some hospital data will not be as up-to-date as others if they upload records in bulk (see Question 5).

7. What is consent to the NJR?

Patients are requested to give their consent for their personal details (forename, surname, date of birth, home postcode, mobile/email, NHS number or national patient identifier) to be recorded by the NJR. Recording your personal details will enable the NJR to:

First and foremost, link a patient to their medical device implant(s). This means that in the rare case where a problem with a specific implant may be identified at any point in the future, the NJR will be able to help identify the patients who received it.
Secondly, the NJR determines the success of joint replacement surgery by linking a patient’s first (primary) procedure to any subsequent procedure (revision) on the same joint. Primary and revision procedures can only be linked if we know a patient’s personal details.
Lastly, having a patient’s details will enable the NJR to invite patients to participate in patient feedback questionnaires. These provide patients with the opportunity to express their opinion on whether or not their procedure has successfully led to an improvement in their quality of life. Patient insights into the outcomes of surgery are an important part of improving patient outcomes and enabling greater patient safety in joint replacement surgery.

8. Does every hospital collect NJR consent?

All hospitals undertaking hip, knee, ankle, elbow, and shoulder joint replacement must offer patients the opportunity to make an informed consent decision about whether or not the NJR can process their personal data. The personal data is how we are able to monitor performance outcomes of all joint replacement surgery and we use this information to help to make improvements. Whilst not many do, patients can, if they choose, decline consent.

9. If I gave consent, would I be more easily identified if a problem was subsequently discovered with my implants?

The NJR links a patient to their medical device implants and if we are ever notified of a potential issue with a specific implant, we can inform all hospitals of affected patients within 48 hours. It will take the hospital longer to identify you if you have not consented for your personal details to be on the registry as we will not be able to provide them with any information that would identify you. The level of care that you receive will not be affected if you decline consent to the NJR processing your personal data

10. What does the consent rate show?

The consent rate is the percentage of patients who have consented to the NJR processing their personal data. This consent is specific to the NJR and is separate to, for example, the ‘Consent to Operate’ that would be sought by your surgeon. The NJR patient consent rate shows you the percentage of records submitted to the NJR complete with patient personal details.

To find out more about the NJR: