'How compliant do we want to be with the colonoscopy surveillance guidelines?'

To assess the referral practice for surveillance colonoscopy amongst clinicians and to measure whether practice was inline with the current Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI) and the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) guidelines.

A questionnaire was sent to members of the ACPGBI.

A total of 195 (49%) clinicians responded, providing information on their referral habits with comments on where they deviated from the guidelines.

The BSG and ACPGBI guidelines are well established amongst clinicians and generally accepted as best practice, however, the majority of clinicians deviate from the guidelines for particular clinical scenarios. In fact only 18% of respondents followed all recommendations for surveillance colonoscopy for patients with polyps, previous cancers and a family history.