How treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can help shape the future of NHS care

As we consider how to align our health system with the ambitions of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan, one important question remains: how do we design services that genuinely support people living with complex long-term conditions throughout their lives?

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and causes inflammation of the digestive tract,¹  provides a powerful example. Around 500,000 people are estimated to be living with IBD in the UK,^2,3  managing a chronic and unpredictable condition that extends beyond gastrointestinal symptoms.⁴  Yet care often remains organised around episodes of acute need rather than the long-term outcomes that matter most to patients. IBD therefore reflects a broader challenge facing the NHS – how to manage long-term conditions more proactively, consistently, and sustainably.

The case for change is both clinical and economic. Evidence from IBD UK suggests that managing a patient during an IBD flare-up can cost up to six times more than supporting them in remission. The same report found that 41 per cent of patients attended accident and emergency at least once before receiving a diagnosis, while 12 per cent attended three or more times.⁵

For people living with IBD, success is about more than symptom control alone. It means being able to work, study, build and care for family, and participate fully in everyday life. However, benchmarking data from more than 26,000 people living with IBD in the UK found that those with more severe disease consistently reported poorer experiences of care, while communication, patient empowerment, and wider wellbeing support remained areas of improvement.⁶  These findings highlight the need for services designed around the realities of living with a long-term condition.

Scientific advances continue to create opportunities to improve these outcomes. New evidence, evolving treatment approaches, and a growing understanding of disease management are reshaping what long-term care can achieve. However, innovation alone is not enough. It creates value only when patients can access it consistently, clinicians can use it appropriately, and services are ready to support its effective adoption.

Translating scientific innovation into improved outcomes requires collaboration across the healthcare system. Alongside the NHS, clinicians, and patient organisations, industry has a role to play in generating and sharing evidence, understanding barriers to adoption, and supporting the effective implementation of innovation. Achieving the ambitions of the NHS 10YHP  will depend not only on scientific progress, but on ensuring that innovation reaches patients in a timely and equitable way.

Research and evidence exchange are an important part of that process. The United European Gastroenterology Congress in Barcelona provides an opportunity for the gastroenterology community to discuss emerging evidence, share best practice, and consider how care can continue to evolve. At Johnson&Johnson, we will listen, learn, and contribute to those conversations.

Encouragingly, many of the foundations for transformation already exist. The latest IBD UK Standards emphasise integrated multidisciplinary care, rapid access to specialist support, psychological and nutritional services, and continuity across primary and secondary care.⁷  Building on these foundations through community-based support, digital tools, remote monitoring, and stronger patient-clinician communication could enable earlier intervention, more personalised care, and better use of NHS resources. These approaches align closely with the NHS 10YHP’s focus on prevention, neighbourhood health services, and integrated care.^6,7

IBD provides a valuable blueprint for how the NHS might approach other complex long-term conditions. It demonstrates the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than activity, enabling timely access to innovation, supporting multidisciplinary care, and designing services around the needs of patients and their carers.

The challenge now is turning ambition into delivery. By strengthening coordinated care closer to home, scaling effective models through partnership, and ensuring services are ready to adopt innovation, we can improve outcomes for people living with IBD while helping to build a more sustainable NHS for the future.

References

¹ Mayo Clinic. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/inflammatory-bowel-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20353315 Last accessed: October 2026

² IBD UK. The State of IBD Care in the UK 2024. Available at: https://sr-crohns-craft.s3.amazonaws.com/images/IBD-UK-National-Report_7OCT_v9_WITH-HYPERLINKS_compressed.pdf Last accessed: October 2026

³ NHS GIRFT. Optimising care for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Available at: https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GIRFT-IBD-Handbook-FINAL-updated-April-2026.pdf Last accessed: October 2026

⁴ Popa SL, et al. Coping Strategies and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Narrative Review. J Clin Med. 2024 Mar 12;13(6):1630. doi: 10.3390/jcm13061630.

⁵ IBD UK Alliance. 2021 IBD UK Report: The Hidden Cost and a Vision for Change. Available at: https://ibduk.org/reports/crohns-and-colitis-care-in-the-uk-the-hidden-cost-and-a-vision-for-change Last accessed: October 2026

⁶ A Barney Hawthorne, et al., Comparative analysis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patient- and service-reported quality of care using 2019 and 2023 UK benchmarking data from more than 26 000 adult patient respondents and 154 IBD services, Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, Volume 20, Issue 3, March 2026, jjag005, https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjag005

⁷ IBD UK Alliance. IBD Standards 2026. Available at: https://ibduk.org/ibd-standards Last accessed: October 2026