522 Audit of Acute Lower Gastrointestinal Bleed Management in a District General Hospital

Acute Lower Gastrointestinal Bleed (ALGIB) is a common emergency surgical referral. This project aims to audit current practice at a district general hospital against new British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines, which gives recommendations regarding assessment (Oakland score), investigation and management. Method A retrospective study was undertaken over one year (2019) of patients presenting to A&E or referred via GP with ALGIB. Patients were identified through the coding department. An online proforma was used for data collection, which was analysed with SPSS. Results 76 appropriate patients identified. Median length of hospital stay was 1 day. 10 patients (13.2%) scored ≤8 (probability of safe discharge 95%), 19 (11.8%) patients scored ≤9 (probability of safe discharge 93%) and 57 patients (75%) scored ≥10. 19 patients discharged the same day, of which 3 (15.8%) scored ≤8 and 8 (42.1%) scored ≤9. 23 patients admitted overnight, of which 5 (21.7%) scored ≤8 and 6 (26.1%) scored ≤9. Of 66 patients classified as ‘major’, 41 (62.1%) did not have a colonoscopy. Conclusions Introduction of a scoring mechanism and disseminating guidelines will enable GPs and A&E doctors to safely discharge ALGIB patients with appropriate outpatient investigations and reduce surgical admissions. There is currently poor compliance with inpatient investigations.