BSO creates National Tympanoplasty Registry

03 April 2025

The British Society of Otology have recently created a national registry for tympanoplasty that ENT surgeons across the UK can use to record their tympanoplasty outcomes. The registry is now up and running and can be accessed via the internet and via the Powerapps application on mobile devices. Instructions for accessing and using the registry are available on the ENTUK website.

In order to start using the registry please email simon.lloyd@mft.nhs.uk who will arrange for you to be added to the registry user group. You will then receive an email from Sharepoint with instructions on how to access the registry. 

One of the key features of the registry is that while individual surgeons can monitor their own data, all patient identifiers are removed from any pooled data analysis. There has been concern that previous registries stored surgeon-level data in a way that allowed those running the registry to access individual surgeons' outcomes. This registry has been designed to prevent such access, ensuring that only the surgeons themselves can view their own results.

We have intentionally limited the number of fields to make the system user-friendly while still ensuring that the collected data is valuable. The registry consists of three pages: a pre-operative page, an operative page, and a post-operative page. Additionally, there is a key outcomes page that summarizes the surgeon's data, which will be useful for ongoing personal audits. This page also provides national average data, allowing surgeons to benchmark their outcomes against these averages.

In addition to facilitating audits of personal and national tympanoplasty outcomes, the registry aims to explore variations in practice across the country and ultimately identify factors that contribute to positive outcomes. Our hope is that this will promote the sharing of best practices and lead to improved outcomes for our patients.

The registry has been built by an NHS approved application developer and is hosted on a secure NHS Trust server at Salford Royal Hospital. All data entry is via the secure NHS network. If surgeons who wish to use the database would like to see the approved Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) then please email simon.lloyd@mft.nhs.uk.

The registry is run by a steering committee comprising members of the BSO council. They are responsible for monitoring data entry, troubleshooting the registry's functionality and eventually analysing the data within the registry. Any publications that arise from the data analysis will include all those who have contributed to the registry as authors as part of the BSO tympanoplasty registry collaborative.

We very much hope that you will use the registry. The more clinicians who do so, the better. If you have any questions relating to the registry please contact Professor Simon Lloyd on simon.lloyd@mft.nhs.uk.