Gastrointestinal endoscopy during COVID-19: When less is more

Writing and publishing in these fast-moving times necessitates continuous vigilance against perverse consequences. For this reason, the British Society of Gastroenterology-Joint Advisory Group (BSG-JAG) documents circulated as best consensus guidance for UK Endoscopy,1–3 dating from 20th March 2020, have been subject to repeat scrutiny over the last 13 days. The latest iterations of these documents are available at https://www.bsg.org.uk/covid-19-advice. Newton’s Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.4 The time sequence of various advice documents from the devolved health administrations followed after the BSG-JAG principles of practice were published. For the most part, governments have endorsed these principles at face value.5 There are, inevitably, nuances (eg, the timing of the continued implementation of cancer diagnostics and screening),6 but as a professional membership society in touch with the realities of the UK workforce on the ground, the importance of the primary BSG-JAG message of pausing …