Abstract Background This initiative was designed to demonstrate to the divisional senior management team the importance of collecting data to demonstrate the activity of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Nursing Team. The divisional team were unaware of the increased workload and activity of the team resulted in a higher demand for the team. The IBD Dashboard Data System was developed to account for the activity of the team and could be used for future business planning and ensuring the delivery of a safer IBD service. This project ensured that the senior management team were aware of the increased activity of the team. Methods This was developed over the last couple of years and we were able to test the data collected over this period to provide the data required to increase staffing numbers. Key performance indicators were set for nurses to collect weekly. This included number of patients with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, other patients seen, DNA rates, numbers of staff taught, patients prepared for biologics or immuno-modulator therapy, number of helpline calls and time taken over the call, ward patients seen and number of prescriptions prepared by the nurses. We discussed this project with the senior divisional management and have utilised this data at local PCN meetings with GP’s and commissioners. Results At the start of the project the staffing numbers was 2.6 wte band 7 nurses with no designated administration support for the team. According to Crohn’s & Colitis UK the required staffing numbers for our catchment population was 7.5 wte nurses, which meant we were drastically under-resourced. We were able to utilise the data provided to convene a meeting with key stake holders. This meeting focussed on the data provided and reviewing the workload. To enable the team to provide a safe service, staffing numbers and job plans were reviewed. A case mix analysis was undertaken to provide actual patient to nurse ratios was undertaken and a gap analysis demonstrated more staff were needed. We currently have 4.4 wte nurses in post, an improvement but more work needed. Conclusion To summarise, an IBD data dashboard improves patient care by providing better insights, enabling personalized treatment, improving coordination among healthcare providers, and facilitating research. This project enabled the team to demonstrate the increased activity of the IBD team and that this data could be utilised to develop and expand the service. The service is now better funded and this project could be transferrable to any speciality or location. This project has been shared with other Trusts within the UK to enable them to grow their IBD nursing team. Conflict of interest: Scott, Glyn: No conflict of interest
G Scott (Thu,) studied this question.