You can join the ARC Study if you are –

• A UK resident
• Aged 18 years or over
• You have been added to a waiting list for a hip or knee replacement
• You have not had a joint replacement on this joint before

What does the study involve?

If you join the study you will be sent an online questionnaire where we will ask questions about you and your lifestyle and diet, physical and mental health and about your hip or knee problems.

You can ask a friend of family member to help you complete the online forms if necessary.

After your operation we will then send you more online questionnaires at 2 weeks, 4 months, 8.

How is my information used?

Your data will be collected in online questionnaires using secure RedCap software approved for health research. The data will be stored on servers in Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, who are leading this research project and are responsible for protecting your information. All of your data will be stored securely under all of the usual NHS and research requirements.

The data from your questionnaires will be linked to your medical records, information about hospital admissions and attendances, and other health records and joint replacement records to allow us to get even more information about which factors affect the outcomes of hip and knee replacements.

We will only use information that we need for the research study. We will let very few people know your name or contact details, and only if they really need it for this study. Everyone involved in this study will keep your data safe and secure. We will also follow all privacy rules. 

At the end of the study we will save some of the data in case we need to check it and for future research. 

We will make sure no-one can work out who you are from the reports we write.