Inflammatory bowel disease in the gypsy community in England and Scotland

Introduction

The travelling community in England and Scotland may consist of between 150,000 and 500,000 members. In Scotland ethnicity codings for hospital admissions includes: Gypsies, Roma, Irish travellers and show people. Few Trusts in England break down codings for “Other British” in such detail.

Method

One hundred and thirty-two NHS Trusts were approached in England and 14 NHS Boards in Scotland through a Freedom of Information request to provide details of admission to hospital between 2016 and 2022 with ulcerative colitis and had undergone a panproctocolectomy and those with Crohn's disease and had undergone a hemicolectomy.

Results

Of the 132 NHS Trusts approached in England only 7 were able to provide data on hospital admissions for inflammatory bowel disease from this community; whereas in Scotland 13 of 14 did so. There were 1012 admissions with ulcerative colitis and based on the number of admissions per patient in Somerset NHS Foundation Trust this would represent 138 patients. In contrast, there were 901 admissions with Crohn's disease and at least 9 patients underwent a hemicolectomy.

Conclusion

The inadequacy of data collection related to this community is discussed.