Open access gastroscopy. Service is efficient and effective.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Gastroscopy↗
Biomedical subjects
B Contractor
Publications and source records attributed to B Contractor.
Organising unrestricted open access gastroscopy in South Tees.
Increasing demand for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy has forced many clinicians to reconsider the policy of seeing all patients in a specialist clinic before gastroscopy. The following are considered essential in setting up an open access gastroscopy service. (1) Assessment of the need by examination of waiting times for the outpatient clinic and the proportion of patients requiring upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and consultation with colleagues in general practice. During the first 2 years of the service the average waiting time for a medical gastrointestinal outpatient appointment has fallen from over 120 days to 37 days in this area. (2) An adequately staffed and equipped gastrointestinal unit with well motivated nurses (the workload will increase) and sufficient clinical support to allocate patients to the next available gastroscopy list is vital. A safe mechanism for relaying information back to the GP (including histology reports) is essential otherwise medicolegal problems could arise. Open access gastroscopy now accounts for 29% of the total endoscopy workload in South Tees. (3) Close cooperation between medical and surgical gastroenterologists must be achieved to ensure a uniform approach to the provision of this service and equal distribution of the endoscopy workload. This will require close examination of the potential numbers and may necessitate appointment of a clinical assistant or additional consultant. Clinical assistants perform just over 50% of the open access gastroscopies in South Tees and the waiting time has been kept short (average 17 days). (4) A comprehensive request form with guidelines for GPs and a specific box identifying whether the GP requires a report and brief advice only or follow up at the discretion of the endoscopist (often a clinical assistant) is required. (5) Management must be involved in identifying adequate resources. (6) Methods of monitoring requests and outcome measures to ensure effective audit must be established.
Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal↗
The use of long-term acid-suppression therapy.
Drug therapy to suppress gastric acid secretion is commonly used in the management of dyspepsia, many patients taking such therapy over long periods of time. An audit of patients on long-term (> 12 months) acid-suppression therapy was carried out in the two practices providing primary healthcare to a town in Northeast England. Patients on continuous therapy (> 10 months' supply in the previous year) and intermittent therapy (6-10 months' supply in the previous year) were identified through computerised prescribing records. Their written and computer records were scrutinised to determine diagnosis, duration of therapy, use of NSAIDs and other features. A total of 365 patients were identified (208 men, 157 women): 132 were on intermittent and 233 on continuous therapy. Of the total, 83% were over 45 years and one-fifth were taking NSAIDs. Of the 310 patients investigated for their dyspepsia, only 250 had a positive diagnosis, of which duodenal ulcer (154) was the most common.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal↗