A NEW phone app aims to support Worcestershire patients living with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
‘My IBD Care’ will help approximately 2,800 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients who are managed by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
The chronic disease management app, available on smartphones, helps individuals self-manage their IBD on a day-to-day basis.
It brings together personal health records, medication and appointment reminders, daily lifestyle tracking (including mood, stress, exercise, diet, sleep etc) and a library of lifestyle and wellbeing courses.
Patients are also able to communicate via the app with clinical teams and submit questionnaires which provide remote insight into their health.
Helen Osinski, IBD advanced nurse practitioner at the trust, said: “Patients living with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis face personal challenges every day – from managing painful symptoms and monitoring their diet, to dealing with sleep disruption and psychological stress.
“As a clinician, I want to help manage their condition and avoid overburdening patients with hospital visits which hold associated travel and time costs.
“Innovative new tools like My IBD Care are an essential part of the future of long-term condition care.
“They facilitate patients to take some responsibility and ownership for the management of their condition, whilst also recording information that can improve clinical decision making.
“To be truly successful, health apps need to fit within current care pathways and patient routines.”
