Revised UK IBD Standards launched to improve levels and consistency of care nationwide

There have been significant improvements in the quality of care for people with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis since the UK IBD Standards were first issued four years ago, but IBD clinicians and patient organisations state that there is plenty of scope for improvement. To address these shortcomings and the major changes taking place in the NHS, revised UK IBD Standards have been launched.

Standards of care have risen significantly for children and adults since the UK IBD Audit’s first examination of IBD services and care in 2006, which identified unacceptable variation in the quality of IBD care. The most recent Audit round in 2010 benchmarked hospital adherence to the IBD Standards for the first time, and found that the provision of dedicated gastrointestinal wards rose from 67% in 2006 (before the Standards were developed) to 90% in 2010.

Tom Smith, Chief Executive of the BSG, said, "The BSG has been proud to be involved in the joint work establishing and revising the IBD Standards. The multi-professional and patient oriented approach to their formulation and update is an exemplary model for advocating and benchmarking the quality of care for patients with IBD. 

The IBD Standards have been critically important in improving patient care and are used as the basis for national audit, allowing us to assess whether services for patients across the UK are meeting the standards that gastroenterologists, nurses, GPs, pharmacists, surgeons, dietitians and, centrally, patients have agreed should be delivered. The IBD standards and audit, along with more recent innovations like the IBD Registry, are vital tools for driving further service improvements. 

While the data has shown that we are making progress, there is some way to go in fully achieving adherence nationally. The revised standards being launched today will reflect changes in the NHS and help commissioners, patients, hospitals and surgeries to ensure high quality services are delivered across the country. They have the BSG’s full support." 

The UK IBD Audit has shown that, although there is widespread multidisciplinary team working, only 24% of adult services have defined access to a Psychologist with an interest in IBD, while 59% of GPs reported being unable to get their IBD patients seen in secondary care within seven days in the event of a relapse. Despite the significant improvement in IBD Nurse provision, 79% of services failed to meet the standard of 1.5 whole time equivalent (WTE) IBD Nurse Specialists per 250,000 population. 

For a copy of the revised UK IBD Standards please visit: www.IBDstandards.org.uk