Marianne Williams, specialist gastroenterology community dietitian, explains how Somerset NHS dietitians have made it free and easy for people with IBS to access reliable specialist IBS advice including the Low FODMAP Diet.

How the story unfolded

Our community dietetic team set up the first UK dietetic-led gastroenterology clinic in Somerset in 2012 and this gave a new life-line to people with IBS who had struggled to find reliable dietary information and treatment. We were using the low FODMAP diet very successfully and over 74% of our patients reported an improved quality of life after dietary intervention. In an attempt to help more people and reduce our long waiting list, we set up group sessions. These were an unmitigated disaster!

Why?

People with IBS did not want to talk about their bowels or gut symptoms in front of others. No matter how much we reassured them that they wouldn’t need to discuss personal issues in the group session, they were still understandably resistant and anxious, so did not attend the sessions.

What was the solution?

In 2017, as part of an NHS England 100 Day Project, we set up webinars for people with IBS, where they could access expert NHS specialist dietetic advice from the comfort of their own home, with no need to travel, find childcare or take time off work. More importantly, they could be anonymous.

The webinars proved extremely popular with over 95% of people saying they would recommend them to friends. Interestingly, our largest group of webinar attendees were 65-74 years olds.

In the age of ‘Dr Google’, people noted that they hugely valued the ability to gain accurate and reliable information with 96% stating that they had fair, good or excellent knowledge after watching the webinar.

To make it easier to access the webinars, one of our dietetic team set up an NHS website, Patient Webinars,  which allows people with IBS from Somerset or anywhere in the UK (or the world!) to easily access any of our webinars completely free of charge.

Since the success of our initial IBS First Line Advice webinar in 2017, we have now produced a webinar on the Low FODMAP Diet as well as webinars on coeliac disease and inflammatory bowel disease, all of which are freely available on the website. In the last month NHS UK (Choices) have added our IBS First Line Advice webinar to their website as a pilot to see if this form of patient education is effective at a national level and NHS Digital have produced a blog post about this Somerset project.

Many areas of the UK now have dietetic IBS clinics and you should be able to ask your GP for a referral to this service. Please bear in mind that many areas have long waiting lists or no IBS service at all. These webinars are ideal for people who are finding it difficult to access IBS services locally. The webinars give people with IBS the opportunity to access reliable NHS advice at a time and place of their choosing.

Our dietetic team are keen to emphasise that both our IBS First Line Advice and our Low FODMAP Diet webinars are only for people who have been medically diagnosed with IBS. Ideally people with IBS should seek a one-to-one appointment with a dietitian where possible.

NOTE: If you have any blood in your stools, unintended weight loss, unexplained low iron levels, your symptoms are waking you regularly at night, or any sudden change in symptoms, then you should seek medical advice before seeking dietetic care for your IBS symptoms.

Access the webinars here.