On Friday 3 February the RCP’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Audit Programme is celebrating 10 years of influencing improvements in patient care and the transition of the programme through to the UK IBD Registry. To mark the occasion, nearly 100 medical experts and allied health professionals from the IBD (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis) community will be attending the day to celebrate the audit’s achievements.
The Framing the future event will focus on sharing evidence of IBD audit success in supporting improvement in treatment through patient data collection. It will also stress the importance of continuing to use patient data to drive further improvement in care as the IBD audit programme transitions into the UK IBD Registry.
Broadcaster and ambassador for Crohn’s and Colitis UK, Carrie Grant, will be speaking from a patient perspective on the importance of ‘empowering patients to influence quality improvement’.
Carrie Grant said:
I am delighted to be speaking at the IBD: Framing the future conference. As patients, we don’t always realise the value of data collection but we certainly feel the benefit when it leads to better outcomes for us. Better research, better treatments and better care benefit us as patients and empower us to take better control of our healthcare needs.
The event will run from 10.30am to 4pm and it will be live streamed by the RCP.
History of the IBD audit
The IBD audit programme began in 2006 with the primary aim of improving the care of people with IBD [1]. The programme has carried out four rounds of audits on various aspects of IBD care, including inpatient care, patient experience, organisation of services and use of biological therapies.
Evidence of improvements in care during the time of the programme include:
- 50% reduction in hospital mortality – from 1.7% (2006–8) to 0.75% (2012–14)
- establishing more dedicated gastroenterology wards – an increase from 67% of hospitals in 2006–8 to 95% (2012–14)
- increased provision and patient access to IBD nurses – from 56% (2006-8) to 86% (2012-14)
- demonstrating that biological therapies for the treatment of IBD are safe and effective drugs.
The IBD audit programme was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP). The programme is ending in March and its quality improvement initiatives are being transferred to the UK IBD Registry, which is the future vehicle for IBD audit and quality improvement.
Dr Ian Shaw, clinical director for the IBD programme quality improvement, said:
Providing data across the rounds, so that sites can benchmark their position, has been key to enabling hospital IBD teams to understand the benefits to patients of improved organisation of care. Ten years of audit data has enabled teams to focus attention on where improvements have been required. This has been a terrific driver for improving the standard of care for IBD patients.
Dr Ian Arnott, clinical director for the IBD programme and consultant gastroenterologist at Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, said:
We are indebted to the IBD community for its continued participation in supporting the work of the IBD audit programme. Without the support from audit teams, nurses, doctors and patient support groups, the many patients that are now receiving improved care may not have done so.
However the call for continued improvements in the care of people with IBD continues and we seek to ensure the best way forward for that to happen. The IBD audit is transitioning to be part of the IBD Registry so that this can become the unique and critical resource for further quality improvement in IBD care.
For further information about the event please contact Jane McCormick, Care Quality Improvement Department communications manager: jane.mccormick@rcplondon.ac.uk.
- Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a term mainly used to describe two conditions: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are long-term (chronic) conditions that involve inflammation of the gut (gastrointestinal tract).
