Chair’s Blog

Covid-19 and IBD

27th April 2020 The situation with Covid-19 has had a significant impact on healthcare for patients with confirmed or suspected IBD. Hospital services have stopped doing almost all routine work so that wards and staff can be diverted to dealing with patients with Covid-19. Endoscopy has been affected, but urgent and suspected cancer investigations are still happening. Access to blood tests and faecal calprotectin is harder, and some hospital trusts have temporarily stopped doing the latter. All patients who are due a colonoscopy will be have their notes reviewed and will be written to if it is appropriate to delay...

The Importance of Primary Care and the Development of Flare Pathways for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

“Primary Care is the bedrock of the NHS” is a phrase that is oft quoted, and we all appreciate the value that we get from a state-funded, free-at-the-point-of-access health care system. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror-wall-2014-update-how-us-health-care-system. However, the NHS is starting to creak at the seams with increasing treatment availability, an ageing population, and increasing multimorbidity. The recent Nuffield Trust report commissioned by the BBC has highlighted a sustained fall in the number of GPs working in England, triggered in part by the increasing workload and long working hours that show no sign of relenting. https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/is-the-number-of-gps-falling-across-the-uk#checking-the-vital-signs-for-general-practicePalmer W (2019) “Is the number of GPs falling...

Chair’s Blog December 2018

As 2018 draws to a close it is time to reflect on what has been an interesting 12 months for the PCSG. This has been a year of change: a new chair, secretary and treasurer; two editions of The Digest and two editions of the Digestif;and the most successful Annual Scientific Meeting yet with over 100 delegates attending a meeting that covered a wide range of topics with the largest number of companies and charities exhibiting. The Sharing For Success initiative has given us the opportunity to reach new audiences and our membership has continued to grow. We will continue this...

The bold future of the PCSG

At the beginning of February, the committee members met to consider the future direction of the PCSG, an organisation that was established in 1985. Whilst the slogan “We are the voice of primary care gastroenterology” still holds true, we wish to broaden this to facilitate engagement with a wide range of organisations, and therefore our new purpose is “Improving Gut Health for Everyone”. As a society that is authoritative, collaborative and innovative, we will be building relationships with charities, Royal Colleges and other key national organisations to deliver a range of activities that meet this purpose. We have a strong...

Setting The Scene

This is my first blog as Chair of the PCSG. I took over the role from Richard Stevens who has been carefully guiding the organisation through a time of accelerated change in the NHS. The membership, committee, and I owe him and the outgoing Secretary, Helen Griffiths, and Treasurer, John Galloway, an enormous debt of gratitude. They and the management team behind them had worked to maintain the organisation, expand the membership, and raise the profile of the PCSG. The new Secretary, Patricia Macnair, Treasurer, Ian Allwood, and myself are aware that we must build on this foundation. The PCSG...