A service which helps children and young people with bowel and bladder conditions has been showcased at a recent national conference.
The Community Healthy Bowel and Bladder Service for Children and Young People was set up last year to give greater resilience and resource in an area which has seen increased demand.
Childhood continence problems affect a large number of children and young people and can have a negative impact on their mental, social, educational and physical well-being.
For example, constipation left untreated can result in a chronically stretched bowel that can lead to faecal and urinary incontinence and infections. This can lead to frustrations, bullying, school absenteeism, low self-esteem and referral to hospital.
Since its launch, the service has gone from strength-to-strength - and, last month, the team behind its success were invited to put on a display at a National Children’s continence conference.
The display featured a poster outlining how the new service was developed, with direct input from local patients and their families living with childhood continence problems, after receiving funding from NHS England to shape the new service around their needs.
This included seeking patient experiences via questionnaires and arranging a family focus group event, held at the Louise Hamilton Centre, to get their feedback on how they would like the new service to function.
The new Level 2 community-focussed service was launched with the aim of reducing clinic waiting times and preventing hospital admissions.
To help achieve this, the JPUH’s nurse-led team provided healthy bladder and bowel training and support to Level 1 services, including GPs, to improve knowledge and confidence when supporting families, to help ensure that constipation is either excluded or diagnosed and treated early to prevent the problem escalating into a chronic condition.
Since launching, there has been a 90% rise in new referrals to the service in 2024 compared to 2023 – but, importantly, no increase in waiting times and a reduction in the need for follow-up appointments, thanks to increased support provided by the service in the community.
For more information and support relating to childhood continence issues, please visit https://eric.org.uk/ or Bladder & Bowel UK home page - Bladder & Bowel UK (bbuk.org.uk)
Please note that if your child has continence problems or delayed toilet training, in the first instance contact your health visitor/school nurse/GP so that constipation or other causes may be excluded or treated.
Please click on the image below for a larger version of the poster.
