Tallaght University Hospital (TUH), which is part of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, has become the tenth hospital in Ireland to roll out the Irish National Orthopaedic Register (INOR). The aim of this initiative is to monitor and improve the quality of care for individuals receiving joint replacement surgery in Ireland.
INOR is a secure, web-based, real-time system which provides a national electronic register of patients receiving joint replacement surgery in Ireland. Elective orthopaedic hip and knee replacement records will now be available nationally in a central register for the first time. The register will collate information from Tallaght and will support early detection of implant performance and improve the efficiency of the recall and review process.
Prof. Brendan O’Daly, Clinical Lead for the INOR Project in Tallaght University Hospital said: “We are delighted to be selected as the next site for roll out of INOR. We believe participation will support evidence-based practice, and provide direction for adopting the best innovations in the evolution of joint replacement in the years ahead. My colleagues and I believe our participation in INOR will ensure the continuation of the high standard of arthroplasty care at TUH.”
Following patient consent, the INOR will collect information electronically at pre-operative, surgical and post-operative assessment stages, from patients who are undergoing joint replacement surgery. This will in turn support early detection of implant performance and improve patient experience with their implant over a longer time.
Mr. David Moore, Joint National Clinical Lead for INOR ,welcomed the introduction of INOR to Tallaght University Hospital. He highlighted the “important contribution INOR makes to audit and good clinical governance, as well as allowing us to expedite notifying patients in the unlikely event of an implant recall occurring.”
Lucy Nugent, CEO of Tallaght University Hospital welcomed the implementation, saying “As a teaching hospital, we never stop looking at how we can learn and improve the care that we provide to our patients. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my colleagues across surgery with NOCA to rollout INOR at TUH and look forward to the improvements we can make to enhance our patient’s healthcare journey.”
INOR went live in May 2016 and is managed by NOCA, in conjunction with the HSE Office of the Chief Information Officer and clinically supported by Irish Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon (IITOS). Roll-out of INOR to the remaining public elective orthopaedic surgery sites is underway and will be completed by early 2023. Implementations of the private hospital are also under way.