The Leeds Motor Neuron Disease Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Pathway: Improving Clinical Outcomes and...

We outline a quality improvement project on the development of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) pathway for patients with motor neuron disease (MND) in a single UK specialist hospital.

Data were collected for 110 patients with MND from 2011 to 2014 before the development of the MND PEG pathway in 2015 and thereafter from 2018 to 2022.

Time from MND diagnosis to PEG discussion, time from discussion to referral, and time from referral to PEG insertion were shorter under the new pathway which is of clinical significance, although not statistically significant. The infection rate post-PEG insertion was significantly reduced. Financial savings were made due to the reduced length of stay and no intensive care unit admissions post-PEG insertion.

Our PEG pathway standardized and streamlined services resulting in reduction of total time taken in the pathway: from initial discussion to decision and procedure. It also reduced post-PEG infections and overall costs.