Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of introducing mandatory Joint Advisory Group on gastrointestinal endoscopy (JAG) Accreditation for both public and private endoscopy units.

The Joint Advisory Group (JAG) on Gastro-Intestinal Endoscopy, hosted by the Royal College of Physicians, aims to ensure quality across endoscopy services. It agrees and sets standards for endoscopy units, and quality assures endoscopy services and training. It achieves these objectives through accreditation visits, annual self-reporting using the Global Rating Scale (GRS), offering training, quality assuring training courses, certifying individuals and providing a knowledge management system. The JAG accreditation of an endoscopy unit is the formal recognition that an endoscopy service has demonstrated that it has the competence to meet the measures set out in the endoscopy GRS standards. The JAG accreditation scheme is a patient-centred and workforce focused scheme, which is independently assessed against recognised endoscopy standards. The scheme was developed for all endoscopy services and providers across the United Kingdom in the National Health Service and independent sector.

The JAG accreditation process encourages continuous improvement in processes and patient outcomes, strengthens endoscopy services, provides a knowledge base of best practices, improves the management and efficiency of services, and provides a knowledge base and education on best practices.

There is an endoscopy procedure Best Practice Tariff introduced in 2013-14 to encourage endoscopy units to achieve and maintain the required quality levels to meet the JAG accreditation standard for endoscopy services.