Development of the New Zealand Joint Register

In 1997, to mark 30 years of joint arthroplasty in New Zealand, the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association agreed to establish a national hip and knee register, to be based in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Christchurch Hospital. This paper details the steps in the development of the Register, the problems encountered and their solutions, and the trial process involved before the national implementation of the data collection process in 42 hospitals throughout New Zealand in April of 1999. The whole process took seventeen months and the special features are the enthusiastic and voluntary involvement of nursing staff and the inclusion of patient generated outcomes data. However, it will be at least five years before there is sufficient data for any meaningful analysis.