Improving standards and enhancing quality of services for IBD patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Improving standards by measuring and enhancing quality of clinical services for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
IRAS ID
128171
Contact name
Omar Faiz
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Northwest London NHS Trust
Research summary
In recent years there have been significant steps made towards improving the quality of care offered to patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in the United Kingdom (UK). However, the quality of surgical care received by this patient group requires further attention to ensure that there are appropriate and equitable standards being accessed by patients throughout the UK.
Cancer services in the NHS were the first to be targeted for quality improvement and standardization. As part of this process methods that sought to reduce variation in quality of care, such as a Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting, typically weekly, were introduced. This meeting provides time for specialists involved in the holistic care of the patient to meet and decide upon a personalized treatment plan. The participation of multiple specialists ensures that treatment is in line with contemporary best practice. This tool has been adopted and adapted in many areas of medicine including IBD to improve quality of care for patients. However there is currently much variation in how the meeting is conducted and a need to provide a standardized approach.
Quality improvement tools from industries other than healthcare are being introduced in health care to facilitate the focused improvement of services in a variety of medical fields. Such tools comprise the development and use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure performance and monitor quality improvement initiatives. KPIs are measures of quality, which help to highlight areas in the clinical service where quality excels or potentially falls short of acceptable standards. These indicators can be used to monitor improvement in targeted areas and demonstrate progression towards set benchmarks.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/YH/0175
Date of REC Opinion
24 May 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion