Charity warns thousands waiting for Crohn's and Colitis diagnosis as services 'understaffed'

A young mother is raising awareness of Crohn's and Colitis after she nearly lost her life.

Amy Cowdry started getting symptoms after a c-section for her first-born.

She thinks people are waiting too long to be diagnosed with the disease, something the charity Crohn's and Colitis UK agrees with.

She told ITV News Wales that a few weeks after her c-section, she started going to the toilet a "lot more".

Ms Cowdry added: "I was in chronic pain and agony."

She said she lost weight and hair when at her worst. Credit: Amy Cowdry

She went onto say: "I was supposed to then see the rapid diagnostic clinic within a week. That didn't happen.

"I phoned up, they said you're on a six month waiting list. I said no, that's not happening.

"The doctor was concerned it could have been bowel cancer. We pushed and pushed and then we had an appointment a lot sooner."

Crohn's and Colitis are a type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), with Crohn's affecting parts of the gut where it become swollen, inflamed, and ulcerated.

The NHS describes Ulcerative Colitis as a long-term condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed.

Those with Crohn's and Colitis could experience diarrhoea, feel tired and dehydrated.

Ms Cowdry's symptoms became so bad that she needed emergency surgery to remove her bowel.

That left her with a stoma bag, which she now promotes on her Instagram page.

A few weeks after the surgery, she said her surgeon rang up to say her bowel was "rotten" and left inside her any longer, it could have "killed her".

Her experience is not uncommon - there are more than 26,000 people with the disease living in Wales but that figure could be much higher.

Sarah Sleet, Chief Executive Officer for Crohn's and Colitis UK, told ITV News Wales: "We need to get on top of it for the individual patient but also for the NHS.

"Without that they're kind of chasing their tails trying to keep up with what's going on.

"If we can get on top of it more quickly, that means actually in the end, less work for the NHS. We know that the number of people being diagnosed across the UK is going up significantly.

"But the key issue is getting to that diagnosis as quickly as possible because without that, the long term impact is really severe."

Amy said her stoma bag has changed her life, for the better.

The charity recently responded to a Senedd Health and Social Affairs Committee looking at 'supporting people with chronic conditions'.

The first stage of the inquiry focused on access to essential services and ongoing treatment, support for self-management, mental health, and the impact of the pandemic, the charity said.

It reacted saying that inflammatory bowel disease care in Wales remains "understaffed and under-resourced", with "no service meeting the IBD Standards". 

It's also calling for "greater public awareness of Crohn’s and Colitis and awareness of symptoms, the importance of timely access to endoscopy, and how a diagnostic pathway can help to reduce waiting times and lead to earlier diagnoses".

Responding to the charity and Ms Cowdry's comments, the Welsh Government told ITV News Wales that it is working to improve Crohn's and Colitis services for patients.

It added: "This includes the roll out of a national pathway for the diagnosis of IBD to all health boards in Wales.

The Welsh Government also said it includes "the development of significant additional endoscopy capacity to support the investigation of disease like IBD, and the establishment of new national leadership arrangements for IBD service improvement as part of the NHS Executive.”

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