P339. An audit of IBD care: Are we up to standards? A patients perspective
E. Britton1, R. Saravanan1, K. Koss1, E. Nelson1
1Macclesfield District General Hospital, United Kingdom
Background: IBD is estimated to affect approximately 400 patients per 100,000 population. A UK wide audit in 2006 demonstrated a wide variation in the quality of care provided. As a direct result a Working Group, was formed to recommend national standards for IBD care.
The audit cycles on an annual basis to asses each units adherence to the standards of:
A. High quality clinical care
B. Local delivery of care
C. Maintaining a patient-centred service
D. Patient education and support
E. Information technology and audit
F.Evidence-based practice and research [1]
While the national audit is able to adequately assess certain aspects of the standards. We sought to demonstrate how the use of a patient survey can complement the national audit to assess our patients understanding of their disease, access to education/support and overall satisfaction.
Methods: The study was carried in a District general hospital in the north of England covering a population of 0.2 million.
All patients under follow up for inflammatory bowel disease were sent a questionnaire aimed at assessing patient knowledge and understanding of disease along with service provision and satisfaction.
Results: 201 responses were received to 650 questionnaires. 58.4% were female and 42.6% males.
Diagnosis and disease understanding Overall 99% of patients felt they had a diagnosis pertaining to their condition.
However, 17.9% of patients were not aware which part of their bowel was affected.
At the time of diagnosis only 36.3% felt they definitely were given all the information they required.
Consultations 78.1% of patients had their 1st consultation with a consultant and only 14 patients in total were yet to meet their consultant
Overall over 90% of patients were to some extent satisfied with appointment, test and result waiting times
Medication 1 in 5 patients either frequently or occasionally forget to take their medication.
1 in 6 patients regularly or occasionally stop their medication if they are feeling better.
Smoking Overall 56% of our patients were not aware of the association between crohns disease and smoking
Overall 78.6% would definitely recommend the NHS service to friends or family.
Conclusions: The use of a patient survey allows an institution to assess its service against aspects of the IBD standards not assessed in the national audit.
We would therefore advocate patient surveys for all units offering an IBD service to assist service development.
1. The IBD Standards Group (2006), Quality Care Service standards for the healthcare of people who have Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).