Half of UK hospitals lack essential services for managing acute GI bleeds, inquiry finds

Patients with acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleeds should be admitted only to hospitals with 24/7 access to endoscopy, interventional radiology, GI bleed surgery, and the critical care facilities needed to optimise their care, a UK inquiry has recommended,1 saying that half of hospitals currently managing these patients lack some of these services.

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) collected data on the care and outcomes of patients admitted to hospitals in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey with GI bleeding in the four months from 1 January to 30 April 2013. …