A woman with Crohn’s disease has praised a new device being used by GPs that helped detect a flare-up quicker than if she went to the hospital.

Sarah Guildford, 29, was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease back in December 2020 after struggling with symptoms for about eight months.

After experiencing symptoms again in April, instead of a potentially lengthy wait to see a consultant in the hospital, Sarah, whose sister also has Crohn’s disease, was able to call her GP, who used the LumenEYE device they were trialling, which showed that she was experiencing a flare-up.

Sarah said: “If it weren’t for the device, I would not have known about the inflammation, and I wouldn’t have been able to get the medication.

“It’s so much easier that GPs are doing this and it saves everyone time.

“If a patient like me needs some quick treatment for a flare-up like I had, they can just contact their GP instead of having to contact the hospital which can take a lot longer.”

READ MORE: Shifa Surgery sets up clinic to try and detect bowel cancer earlier

The LumenEYE device, a novel digital rectoscope, allows GPs to examine and get a clear view of the inside of the lower part of the bowel, being able to detect early signs of bowel cancer.

The hand-held endoscopy device and software can be set up in the doctor’s office, operated by a single doctor and comfortably used without sedation or overnight bowel prep.

Sarah, who lives in Blackburn, has praised Shifa Surgery and said that she thinks the devices should be more readily available for patients at a primary care level.

She added: “It’s important the other surgeries have something like this.

“Thousands of people have bowel cancer or bowel diseases like Crohn’s, and they could be treated and diagnosed earlier.”

The technology is available in a private capacity in some GP practices and a service has been commissioned in April 2022 by the NHS, funded by the community diagnostic centre for NHS East Lancashire CCG and NHS Blackburn with Darwen CCGs.

The study, conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, found the LumenEye device was extremely accurate at detecting tumours of the rectum with 100 per cent diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.