Remote monitoring service
Managing your ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s Disease at home
Remote monitoring for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients
Remote monitoring makes it easier to manage your care at home and get support and treatment when you need it. You should complete your form whenever we send it, even if you are feeling well. This helps us give you more flexible care and arrange appointments when you need them.
Getting your monitoring form
If you are eligible for remote monitoring, we’ll send you a link to your monitoring form by text. You can complete the form using your smartphone. Most people complete it in less than 2 minutes.
We’ll send a new link when it's time to complete your next form. We’ll send a couple of text reminders if we haven’t received your form.
Completing your form
We’ll ask you to answer a few questions about how you are feeling. Depending on your condition, you’ll be able to rate symptoms such as:
- abdominal pain
- how often you need the toilet
- general wellbeing
When you’ve answered all the questions, you’ll see a summary of what you’ve told us. If you’ve completed more than one form, this summary will show an average of your responses over time.
What happens when you submit your form
Your Care Coordinator will review what you tell us and look back at your previous answers to help track your symptoms.
If you have told us that you are feeling well
We won’t make any changes to your care plan. We will continue to monitor your condition remotely.
When your responses show that your condition is changing
We will contact you to either:
- arrange a telephone consultation
- arrange a face to face appointment
How your care team uses your monthly monitoring information
Everything you tell us through remote monitoring helps us to track your condition over time. Your responses form part of your record. We don’t compare your responses to anyone else’s.
For example, if you tell us that your symptoms are less frequent, you might rate them as low on your scale. The next time you complete your form, you might rate your symptoms as high. This tells us that your symptoms have got worse, because they have become more frequent on your scale.
By reviewing your responses, your care team will get a much better understanding of your personal experience. This makes it easier to:
- give you treatment and support when you need it
- help you manage your symptoms without having to come into clinic
How you can use your responses
Once you’ve completed your form, you’ll see a line chart showing how your responses compare to what you’ve told us in previous forms. This can help you track changes in how you feel.
If you need support now
You don’t need to wait for your monthly monitoring form if you need help.
Contact the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) helpline if you:
- are ‘in flare’ or your symptoms get worse
- need medical advice about your condition
- need to book an appointment
Always call the hospital you usually visit. Teams in other hospitals will not be able to access details of your appointments, prescriptions or your health records.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at Guy’s and St Thomas’
Email: ibdhelpline@gstt.nhs.uk
If you want to opt out of remote monitoring
Reply ‘STOP’ to any of our texts to opt out at any time. We’ll stop sending monthly monitoring forms to your smartphone.
Your normal care will continue if you choose not to use remote monitoring. You can still contact us at any time using the contact details above.
Help us improve this service
We are always listening to what patients tell us about our services. Your feedback helps us improve the service for everyone. There are lots of ways to give feedback, including:
- focus groups
- by telephone
- by email
Tell us about your concerns, suggestions or how the service has made it easier to manage your condition. If you’d like to share your experience, contact us on 020 7188 2491 and choose option 2.
How we look after your information
As part of remote monitoring, we collect and store some of your personal information. This includes your:
- name
- NHS number
- mobile phone number
- responses to the questions we send each month
- incoming and outgoing text messages between you and the remote monitoring service.
The only people who can access this information are clinicians and the care coordinator directly involved in your care. They use a secure login process. All of your information is stored in line with best practice for health data security.
Your data will be accessible via your NHS Electronic Patient Records by health professionals. All data is stored within the UK and isn't transferred elsewhere.
You can ask your clinician to share the information we hold about you at any consultation.
If you would like your information to be removed from this service, or if you would not wish for your anonymised data to be used in our research, please email our Care Coordinator, Emily Smith at
gst-tr.sel.rheumremotemonitoring@nhs.net.