Strategy launched for care of patients with GI disorders
A blueprint to provide a strategy for the future care of patients with
gastrointestinal disorders has been drawn up by the British Society of
Gastroenterology (PDF 370K).
“Care of patients with gastrointestinal disorders in the UK: A
strategy for the future” was launched on 14 March. The report says
that without a clear plan, the development of GI services will continue
to
be “fragmentary, reactive and driven by uncoordinated Government
initiatives, potentially to the disadvantage of the service overall”.
The report calls for a multidisciplinary approach and will be used to
negotiate improvements throughout the service. An “overwhelming
finding” of the report is the lack of good research or evaluation
relating to initiatives in service delivery.
Tony Morris from the Royal Liverpool Hospital said: “Training ‘all
round’ gastroenterologists is no longer a sustainable option in
the long term. Proposed progression to sub-specialty training could include
three or four of the following: luminal gastroenterology, hepatology,
advanced therapeutic endoscopy or academic gastroenterology in addition
to an initial basic training in general gastroenterology.” He warned: “There
is an acute shortage of GI radiologists and this critical manpower issue
needs addressing urgently.”
The BSG is also angry at the Government’s failure to honour its
promise of introducing a national
bowel cancer screening programme from
April (PJ, 6 August 2005, p156).
Professor Morris commented: “Things are just not in place; people
have not been trained and the promised money has not been released. We
just don’t know when this programme will start. Perhaps someone
should ask the Government what is going on.”
It has been estimated that the total non-NHS cost to the UK economy of
illness or death from GI disease is £7.8bn a year, while total
hospital costs for GI disorders are £1.4bn a year. Drugs for the
60 million prescriptions are costing £802m a year and the price
of GP consultations is put at £136m per annum. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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