Condition Solution — Gastroenterology
IBD Patient Management
Proactive digital pathway management for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis — connecting gastroenterology teams with patients between appointments, not just during them.
The Condition
What is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) describes two chronic, relapsing-remitting conditions of the gastrointestinal tract — Crohn's disease, which can affect any part of the digestive system, and ulcerative colitis, confined to the colon. Both cause significant pain, fatigue and disruption to daily life, with no cure currently available.
Unlike many chronic conditions, IBD frequently presents in teenagers and young adults — disrupting education, careers and family life at a formative stage. Patients require lifelong specialist management: regular monitoring, biologic therapies, endoscopic surveillance and urgent intervention during flares.
The central clinical challenge in IBD is not only managing active disease — it is sustaining engagement and monitoring between appointments, catching the early signals of a flare before it escalates into a crisis requiring emergency care.
IBD in the UK
500,000+ patients in the UK
Around 1 in 250 people — one of the highest IBD prevalence rates in the world, and still rising
Relapsing-remitting disease course
Unpredictable flares interspersed with periods of remission — requiring continuous background monitoring
Diagnosis typically at 15–35 years
A lifetime impact on education, employment and quality of life for patients and their families
No cure — lifelong management required
Biologic therapy, blood monitoring, endoscopic surveillance and specialist input across the patient's lifetime
The Problem
Appointment-Led Care is Leaving IBD Patients Behind
IBD services are under severe pressure. Waiting lists are long, clinical teams are stretched, and the traditional appointment-only model provides no meaningful support to patients during the months between consultations — when flares begin and crises develop.
NHS Financial Burden
£500m+
Annual NHS direct cost of IBD — driven by biologic therapies, emergency admissions and unplanned procedures. A substantial proportion is avoidable with earlier intervention.
Scale of the Challenge
500,000
People living with IBD in the UK — with demand on gastroenterology services growing year on year as prevalence continues to rise.
The Appointment Gap
6–12 months
Typical interval between outpatient appointments for stable IBD patients — leaving flares to escalate with no structured clinical touchpoint in between.
The Opportunity
1 in 3
IBD-related emergency attendances are potentially preventable with earlier detection and structured between-appointment monitoring and escalation.
The core problem is not clinical knowledge — it is the gap. IBD teams know what good care looks like, but they have no means to extend it beyond the clinic walls. Patients manage complex, unpredictable disease in isolation between appointments — without the tools to recognise early warning signs, stay adherent to therapy, or know when and how to escalate.
Sources: Crohn's & Colitis UK; NHS England Gastroenterology Waiting Time Data; British Society of Gastroenterology IBD Standards (2019); NICE Technology Appraisals (biologic therapies in IBD).
Our Solution
ProtoFlex IBD: Closing the Gap Between Appointments
ProtoFlex IBD combines structured clinical pathway management for gastroenterology teams with integrated patient engagement between appointments — creating a continuous care loop that catches problems early and keeps patients better connected to their clinical team.
Clinical Pathway Management
A complete IBD patient management system for gastroenterology services — giving clinical teams a unified view of their patient population and the tools to manage it proactively.
Between-Appointment Engagement
Structured digital touchpoints that keep patients engaged, monitored and supported between clinic appointments — turning the care gap into a continuous care relationship.
Built on the ProtoFlex Platform
The IBD solution is built on the same configurable ProtoFlex platform used across complex and chronic disease pathways. Clinical teams retain full control over how the pathway is configured — adapting workflows, alert thresholds and patient-facing content to local protocols without developer intervention.
Explore the platformNeed to extend your current system rather than replace it? See how Companion Protocols work, or explore our NHS interoperability approach.
The Differentiator
Care That Doesn't Stop at the Clinic Door
The ProtoFlex IBD engagement model extends the reach of the clinical team into the periods between appointments — where the real clinical risk lies, and where digital tools have the most to offer.
Flare Detection
Patients complete validated symptom scores on a cadence set by the clinical team. Deteriorating scores automatically alert the IBD nurse for triage — before a flare reaches A&E.
Medication Adherence
Reminders and adherence check-ins for biologics and immunomodulators — with clinician visibility across the patient population. Non-adherence is a leading driver of avoidable IBD flares.
Structured Escalation
A clinician-defined escalation pathway helps patients understand what to do when symptoms worsen — reducing inappropriate A&E attendance and unnecessary telephone triage burden on IBD nurses.
Test Result Logging
Patients can log faecal calprotectin results directly into their record — feeding into the clinical view. Calprotectin trends are one of the most reliable early indicators of IBD disease activity.
Personalised Monitoring Cadence
Monitoring intensity is configured by the clinical team — more frequent check-ins for patients recently started on biologics or in partial remission, lighter-touch for those who are stable.
Patient Education
Condition-specific, clinician-curated education content delivered at the right moment — covering diet, medications, travel, fertility and other topics that IBD patients frequently struggle to find reliable guidance on.
The Impact
What Better-Connected IBD Care Can Deliver
By extending clinical reach into the between-appointment period, ProtoFlex aims to reduce emergency admissions, improve adherence and free IBD nurses to focus on patients who truly need them.
Cost Avoidance
£2,500+
Saved per prevented emergency admission — with each IBD flare hospitalisation costing the NHS an average of £2,500–£3,500 per episode.
Earlier Intervention
Days sooner
Flares identified through patient-reported symptom scoring before they require emergency care — giving clinical teams time to intervene proactively.
Clinical Time Back
Less admin
Annual review data, audit submissions and patient-reported outcomes captured digitally — reducing clinic preparation time and manual data entry for IBD nurses.
Patient Confidence
Better QoL
Patients with a clear escalation pathway and consistent digital touchpoints report reduced anxiety and greater confidence managing their condition between appointments.
Get Started
See ProtoFlex IBD in Action
Whether you're an IBD clinical lead, service manager or digital health lead, we'd be delighted to show you how ProtoFlex can help your team deliver better-connected care for Crohn's and UC patients.
IBD Clinical Leads
See how ProtoFlex maps to your existing IBD pathways and co-design a configuration that fits your service — without IT procurement risk.
IBD Nurses & Service Managers
Explore how between-appointment engagement reduces reactive caseload demand and gives you better visibility of which patients need attention now.
Digital Health Leads
Understand ProtoFlex's integration architecture, IG and DSPT posture, and how it connects with your EPR, results systems and existing patient-facing tools.