IBD Standards 2013 Update Launch

Revised Standards setting out the requirements of good care for people with IBD, have been launched by Crohn’s and Colitis UK and a range of other professional organisations.

The Standards for the Healthcare of People who have Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD Standards) were developed by the charity, the British Society of Gastroenterology, Primary Care Society of Gastroenterology, the Royal College of Nursing Gastrointestinal Nursing Forum and other leading organisations.

The IBD Standards aim to inform NHS Managers and commissioning organisations of the six essential components of a quality IBD service – high quality care, locally delivered care, a patient-centred service, patient education and support, IT and Audit and evidence- based practice and research.

In 2009, Crohn’s and Colitis UK and other organisations launched the original version of the UK IBD Standards. Since then, the UK IBD Audit has demonstrated a significant improvement in the quality of care for people with IBD. This includes improved access to IBD nurse specialists, more patient involvement in the development of IBD services and a rise in the number of services with a database of their patients.

The launch of the revised document was marked by a reception in the House of Lords, bringing together Parliamentarians, clinicians and people with the conditions, to reflect on the success of the original 2009 IBD Standards, the need for further improvement and to look ahead to a new Quality Standard from NICE in 2014.

More information

• Visit the IBD Standards website
• Download the IBD Standards 2013 update (PDF)

What Do Patient Panels Do?

An IBD Patient Panel is a group of patients who have Crohn’s disease/Ulcerative Colitis and who use the same IBD service at their local Hospital.

They believe that they can help improve the local service by meeting with the staff who provide it by:

• sharing their thoughts, experiences and aspirations on service improvement
• acting as a sounding board for proposed service re-design and changes
• raising the profile of IBD Services through events like IBD Departmental Open Days
• influencing decisions around the improvement of the provision of their IBD service

They are different from most Patient Panels because they are both disease (Crohn's and Colitis) and service/hospital specific. This means they can speak with the authority of personal experience about a service with which they are intimately acquainted, and, because they suffer from an illness which is a Long Term Condition many of them have become experts (in their own condition) by experience. They are committed to the ethos of partnership working through the co-design of services.

There are about 40 such IBD Patient Panels at hospitals around the UK and are supported by Crohn's and Colitis UK. They usually meet about four times a year, sometimes more if they are working on a particular project

Their overall aim is to improve the NHS experience of the IBD Patient at their local hospital.

To find out more about Patient Panels and the work they carry out click here.