Excellence in Healthcare Professional Education and Support

Summary of work

Disease (IBD) Registry to collect long-term data from all UK centres, alongside a successful national IBD Audit Programme run by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). The Audit had driven significant improvements in IBD services and outcomes, but in 2015 NHS England withdrew its funding, and recommended that the Audit and Registry merge.

Adapting the Registry to accommodate the Audit would cause delays, and moving from annual snapshot audit to continuous point-of-care data collection was a major culture change for hard-pressed clinical teams. Success depended on gastroenterologists being sufficiently convinced of the local value to them and their patients. With uptake behind target, it became apparent that clinicians were confused about the national plans, and that a well-thought-out education and support programme was needed.

The Registry ran a series of regional workshops to focus entirely on the needs of IBD clinical teams, and to position Registry participation as a valuable tool to help them deliver better patient care. The roadshow proved extremely effective, resulting in a successful transition from Audit to Registry. It was so popular with delegates and stakeholders that a follow-up roadshow was run the following year.

Judges' comments

The team involved in this project recognised there was a clear, unmet need for the registry and did the right thing to rectify this, in the process providing a valuable tool. They demonstrated a change in attitude and behaviour and the tactics, structure and outcomes were excellent. We felt this was one of the most exciting entries in the 2017 programme!