The BSG, together with the Health Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) are funding a multicentre audit of management of Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH), a condition managed by most Hepatologists and many Gastroenterologists in the UK.

There have been few randomised trials in AIH and a recent nationwide online survey (Dhaliwal et al Gut 2012; 61:A197) has suggested striking variation in management strategies. The aim of the audit is to assess the outcome of patients AIH across a large part of the UK and its association with different management strategies.

The project will be coordinated by Drs Vikki Gordon and Dermot Gleeson at the Liver Unit, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. Over 20 centres from the North of England and from South Wales have agreed to participate and it is hoped that the audit will also form a basis for future studies of epidemiology and genetics of AIH and for prospective clinical trials. For further information, please contact Dr Gleeson: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Picture shows members of the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Liver Unit. Left to right: Dr Dermot Gleeson, Dr Vikki Gordon, Sister Elaine McFarlane, Research Nurse Jayne Jones, Dr Harpreet Dhaliwal, Dr Mohammed Karajeh and Dr Amer Al-Joudeh

Annual Report

This year's annual report was published in July 2012 (https://catalogue.ic.nhs.uk/publications/clinical/oesophago-gastric/nati-clin-audi-supp-prog-oeso-gast-canc-2012/clin-audi-supp-prog-oeso-gast-2012-rep.pdf) and focused on the results of the organisational survey, and provided longer-term follow up and analysis of data collected during the first audit cycle.

The key findings were:

• Reorganisation of cancer services has been completed and patients have good access to key diagnostic services and therapeutic procedures.
• There was substantial variation in route to diagnosis, with overall 16.4% of patients were being diagnosed after an emergency admission. This group has a lower chance of proceeding to curative treatment, so early diagnosis and detection is still a key issue.
• 3 year survival rates after curative therapy have improved, with rates of 41% for oesophageal squamous cancers, 46% for oesophageal adenocarcinomas and 49% for gastric cancers. This is compared to 34% for oesophageal cancer, and 40% for gastric cancer treated in the 1990’s with curative intent.

Initial results from 2nd Audit

This focuses on patients diagnosed between 1st April 2011 and 31st March 2012. Initial results appear encouraging, with preliminary analysis suggesting:

• Overall case ascertainment of 80% (10% higher than previous audit).
• Clinical information was collected from 10,604 patients.
• 3291 patients treated with curative intent.
• In-hospital mortality rates are continuing to fall.

Full analysis of these results will be published in June 2013 in the second Annual Report. Data will be provided at NHS trust level to allow national benchmarking and identify areas for potential improvement.

What is new?

The National Oesophago-gastric Cancer Audit is pleased to announce that the new audit data collection system is now live.

The new data collection system is aligned to the new dataset for patients diagnosed with OG cancer and High Grade Dysplasia from 1 April 2012.

Full details about the new dataset, how to register for the new data collection system and supporting documents are available from the audit website:

• http://www.ic.nhs.uk/og

How to register for the new system;

1. Each user must follow the link to https://clinicalaudit.ic.nhs.uk to register for a Single Sign On (SSO) account
2. Complete the registration form (available from www.ic.nhs.uk/og) with each users details and send to your Caldicott Guardian for approval
3. Your Caldicott Guardian will need to complete their section then submit to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
4. Each user will receive an email confirmation once access to the NOGCA system has been granted to your SSO account
5. Each user can then follow the link https://clinicalaudit.ic.nhs.uk to log into the system using their SSO account details created in Step 1

If you manage a national clinical audit and have not already been contacted by HQIP as part of its scoping exercise, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to ensure your audit is considered for inclusion in the 2013/14 Quality Accounts. The list of national clinical audits to be included in Quality Accounts (QA) 2013/14 will be available to clinical audit professionals at the end of December 2012. Further information is available on the HQIP site.