Merlin Park University Hospital became the first hospital in the Saolta University Health Care Group and the sixth hospital in Ireland to roll out the Irish National Orthopaedic Register (INOR), a national electronic register of patients receiving joint replacement surgery in Ireland.

At Merlin Park University Hospital, following patient consent, INOR will now 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 the efficiency of the review process for patients attending the hospital.

INOR is a secure, web-based, real-time system that went live in May 2016 and is currently rolling out nationally. Its aim is to improve and maintain the quality of care for individuals receiving joint replacement surgery in Ireland. The register will collate information from all hospitals in Ireland undertaking joint replacement surgery and will support early detection of implant performance and improve the efficiency of the recall and review process.

Roll-out of INOR to the remaining public elective orthopaedic surgery sites is underway and will be completed by mid-2020.

We look forward to implementing this project from which we are sure our patients will benefit. This will improve safety and streamline the pre-operative and post-operative review process, improving the quality of services and care provided to patients having joint replacement surgery. It is a testament to the huge amount of work that has been invested by hospital management, by nursing teams, by IT and administrative staff that the INOR project is ready to go live in Merlin Park University Hospital.

Mr Colin Murphy, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and Clinical Lead for INOR in Merlin Park University Hospital