Ask your politician to back our call for early diagnosis

Politicians tackle issues that directly affect their constituents – that’s anyone who lives in the area they serve.

They can raise written or verbal questions in parliament, call for a debate, or even introduce a motion. This all helps to raise awareness and tell governments that people care about Crohn’s and Colitis.

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You are the expert in your experience and your story is powerful. By telling your politician about your experience, you can help us achieve change.

Delays to diagnosis of Crohn’s and Colitis not only affects people’s ability to work, socialise, or spend quality time with their families but also reduces their treatment options while increasing their risk of being hospitalised or needing emergency surgery.

Yet despite clear patient need, increased clinical risk and rising costs to the NHS, delays to diagnosis of Crohn’s and Colitis remain at the bottom of the health agenda.

The result is one in four people will wait more than a year to be diagnosed, and nearly half will end up in A&E at least once before their diagnosis. With your help, we can change that.

Help us make the case for politicians to:

Back our public campaign to raise awareness of Crohn’s and Colitis, and help people take control of their health.
Support our call for a national diagnostic pathway for people with lower gastrointestinal symptoms.
Prioritise endoscopies by patient need, to get people diagnosed and on a treatment plan, rather than on an operating table.

Ask your politician to back our campaign

To help them understand the importance of early diagnosis you can share your story and our policy brief. You could also ask your politician to:

Pledge their support to our campaign.

Meet you alongside Crohn’s & Colitis UK. This gives us an opportunity to discuss the matter in more detail and share evidence to help them make the case for change.

Write to their local health leader and share our policy brief. This letter template will help them find the right words.

Raise a parliamentary question – these can either be written or oral and let the Government know that people care about improving diagnosis for people with Crohn’s and Colitis and want them to do more. You can find some recommended questions here.