Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy — a view from general practice

An open-access upper gastrointestinal endoscopy service for general practitioners is described. Between July 1981 and May 1985, 391 endoscopies were performed on 354 patients. In contrast to the results of other studies, demand for endoscopy and the pick-up rate for major lesions has remained steady, and the number of requests for barium meals has fallen by almost a quarter. Major lesions — cancer, gastric and duodenal ulcers and severe oesophagitis — were found in 33% of patients. Oesophagitis accounted for 28% of positive endoscopies and 18% of positive endoscopies in patients with barium negative dyspepsia. With scarce resources there may, however, be a case for `selective' access to upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in the future.