IBD Newsletter - Newcastle Hospitals

IBD Newsletter
Newsletter no 2
For The New castle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Welcome to the IBD Newsletter, our aim of this Newsletter is to keep you up to
date with what is happening with regards to Crohns and Colitis (IBD) and the service
we provide to you. This newsletter will be published 4 times per year, our hope is that
it can be accessed either when you attend for your outpatient appointment or in future on the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust web site page. Your input or
suggestions for the Newsletter would be appreciated.
Some of the items we will be including are reviews of new practice with regards to
treatment, news from the IBD patient forum, audit and research projects plus any
suggestions from yourselves.
IBD patient forum If you were not already aware we run an IBD patient forum
twice per year at the Freeman Hospital. This is usually in April and October with tea
and coffee supplied. All patients with IBD are welcome to attend but we would ask
that you let us know if you will attending or if you want more information about the
forum please contact us on 01912231208 and ask for Lesley Jeffrey or email [email protected] or [email protected].
The patient forum allows you the patient to give us feedback on the service, gives us
views on how to improve the service and allows us to feedback to you what we are doing at present. Next Meeting SEPTEMBER 24th 4-5pm Freeman Education
Centre
The issues raised at the last meeting were Contact out of hours-a new contact sheet for Freeman has now been devised and is
available in outpatients this contains information on who and how to contact us and
also an out of hours contact.
Patient Information-As mentioned in the first newsletter we are continuing to work
with the trust intranet developers to allow us a web page where we can have information for patients with IBD giving links to support and information. New information will be added to this as and when we have this http://www.newcastlehospitals.org.uk/services/internal-medicine_services_gastroenterology.aspx.
We currently have a virtual tour available for the Freeman and RVI endoscopy units
on the endoscopy webpage. http://www.newcastlehospitals.org.uk/services/surgical_services_endoscopy.aspx
Patients have also asked for steroid information and information regarding blood
tests these are currently being reviewed and should be available soon.
There is also an information sheet regarding immunisation for those on an immunosuppressant. If you are planning travel to a location that requires multiple immunisations please contact your IBD team who will be able to refer you to the travel advice
clinic.
Radar Keys– These are available from Disability North telephone 0191 2840408
Wellbeing sessions-These are run by the clinical psychology department and details
attached to this newsletter. Elaine has had some feedback from patients who have attended. The sessions all provide similar information and advice relating to ‘coping
management techniques’ so only one session needs attending.
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Patient Views of Outpatient Appointment From the 30th June we will be asking patients who attend clinic to complete a questionnaire regarding their experiences. This will
be anonymous but will hopefully let us know what changes can be made to the OP experience. One of these questions relates to telephone assessment rather than coming to clinic
if you are well. If this is a popular suggestion we are hoping to set this service up.
As a trust we are currently involved in a number of national projects. These are
The IBD Quality Improvement Project -this is undertaken in April each year where
we submit data concerning all aspects of our patients treatment with IBD and then we are
given a score. The categories are Patient Experience, Clinical Quality, Organisation and
Choice of Care and Research Education and Audit. The results of this are attached to this
newsletter. If you would like to be a patient representative when we undertake our next
data entry in April 2014 please [email protected], it takes approximately
1-2hours to complete). One of the changes we have made from this project is introducing a
Multi Disciplinary meeting once per month. This is where the medical, surgical teams
meet with a consultant radiologist and consultant histologist to review treatment of patients who require extra treatment
The National Biologics Audit-This is a national database of all patient who receive biologic treatment (Adalimumab and Infliximab) for crohns disease. All data submitted is
governed by strict rules and no patient will be contacted by anyone other than your normal medical team at the hospital. It allows us to see how many patients are on these
treatments and if it makes a difference to their symptoms and quality of life. It benefits
your medical team in that we can have a up to date record of your care when it started
and any problems you may have had at a glance.
Research Trials-Dr Mansfield at the RVI runs a number of trials looking at new medication that may prove beneficial for some patients who have not been able to take the normal type of treatments. You may be asked to participate in these if we think this may be
the best form of treatment for you. However this is your choice and all risks and benefits
will be explained to you by the doctor or nurse that you normally see.
Crohns and Colitis UK have regional groups within this region it is the Hadrian Group
meetings are held 4 times per year we will include these and details of venue in the
newsletters in future. These sessions are informative and a good way to meet other people with Crohns and colitis.
The programme is as follows:
September 6th Dr George Petrides consultant in nuclear medicine, Newcastle and Dr
Tim Hoare consultant radiologist, Newcastle,topic: Medical physics and radiology in IBD.
This will be in the Education centre at the Freeman, meeting begins at 2.00pm.
December 6th There will be a panel consisting of Dr Jamie Barbour consultant gastroenterologist at Gateshead, Dr Su Bunn, paediatrician RVI, Dr Ben Griffiths colorectal surgeon RVI. The meeting will be chaired by Dr John Mansfield RVI. This will be held in
the Brunswick church next door to Fenwick's begins at 2.00pm.

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