Assessing lower-GI symptoms in primary care

This educational resource introduces you to the national Primary Care Diagnostic Pathway for Lower Gastrointestinal symptoms. The pathway was developed to improve recognition, assessment and referral of patients presenting with lower GI symptoms in primary care. By the end of this education, you should be able to:

• Explain the purpose,structure and clinical rationale of thepathway

• Identify patients presenting with lower-GI symptoms who areappropriate formanagement within the pathway.

• Recognisered-flag features and clinical situations that require urgent escalation or direct referral

• Select and interpretappropriate first-line investigations, including faecal calprotectin

• Apply the pathway to real‑world clinical scenarios

• Use the pathway to structure clear, patient‑centredconversations

• Demonstrate appropriate safety‑netting when managing patients with ongoing or evolving lower-GI symptoms.