13 December 2021

Post Covid, community bladder and bowel services are recovering from prolonged redeployment, a backlog of cancelled patients and a rising waiting list.

Jane Young, Nurse Consultant in CNWL’s Bladder and Bowel Service, has written an article that takes an informative look at best practice recommendations and what is needed to implement equitable, high-quality services for patients with bladder and bowel dysfunction.

The article is published in the Journal of Community Nursing (JCN), and this has been added to CNWL’s website. Click here to read it.

Within the article, Jane outlines her clinical opinion on what a gold standard bladder and bowel service should provide:

  • Allow self-referral
  • Use International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire (ICIQ)/International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS)/neurogenic bladder and bowel dysfunction forms to gain objective evidence
  • Use voiding and bowel diaries to gain objective evidence
  • Perform rectal and vaginal examination
  • Perform bladder scanning
  • Have prescriber/s in team
  • Offer clinic and home visits
  • Do ambulant catheter changes
  • Do complex catheter changes
  • Do trial without catheter (TWOC)
  • Gain clinical supervision
  • Be involved in MDT meetings
  • Provide education to colleagues

Helen Willetts, Director of Nursing, Goodall Division said:

“This is another great publication on bladder and bowel care. Thank you to Jane for your amazing work; it raises the profile of this vital area of care. We also intend to run webinars about pelvic health based on this.”

More information about the JCN can be found on this website.