PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Gastrointestinal System (7 July 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will undertake a review to (a) assess the ability of acute hospitals to manage patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding and (b) compare outcomes for patients with acute upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage in each hospital.

Asked by:
Dr Andrew Murrison (Conservative)

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) 3 July report Gastrointestinal Haemorrhage: Time to Get Control? recommends that patients with any acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleed should only be admitted to hospitals with 24/7 access to on-site endoscopy. It is for NHS England to consider whether to take action to take in light of this report.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a quality standard for the management of acute upper GI bleeding. The quality standard states that:

- people with severe acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding who are haemodynamically unstable should be given an endoscopy within two hours of optimal resuscitation; and

- people admitted to hospital with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding who are haemodynamically stable should be given an endoscopy within 24 hours of admission.

The Health and Social Care Act (2012) places a duty on NHS England to have regard to NICE quality standards. NHS England would expect clinical commissioning groups to take into account NICE quality standards when commissioning services for people with acute upper GI bleeding.

The Department has no current plans to undertake a review to assess the ability of acute hospitals to manage patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding and compare outcomes for patients with acute upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage in each hospital. This is more a matter for NHS England.

Answered by:
Ben Gummer (Conservative)
15 July 2015