Quality Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand: A Joint Position Statement

Quality standards for upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy are required to identify key quality indicators that are relevant to Australasian endoscopic practice and local patient populations. Such standards will promote equitable access to high-quality UGI endoscopy for appropriate indications across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA) Endoscopy Faculty's quality of UGI endoscopy working group conducted a review of published guidelines on quality standards in UGI endoscopy. A literature search was performed using the MEDLINE database, with further references sourced from bibliographies of published papers. Recommendations from international guidelines and available evidence were reviewed, and their relevance to the Australian clinical context was assessed. The working group then formulated a position statement on quality assurance in UGI endoscopy in Australian practice. A further iterative process involving the Endoscopy Guidance Group for New Zealand (EGGNZ) and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) culminated in the final recommendations for practice in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The recommendations in this position statement are categorized into preprocedural, intraprocedural, and postprocedural. As UGI endoscopy examines several anatomical structures and is performed for a wider range of indications than colonoscopy, disease-specific intraprocedural recommendations for common benign and premalignant conditions of the UGI tract are also presented. This GESA initiative was undertaken in collaboration with the RACS and endorsed by GESA, RACS, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and EGGNZ, membership of which includes the New Zealand Society of Gastroenterology, the New Zealand Association of General Surgeons, and other local endoscopy stakeholders.