Care Opinion

Bladder and bowel services

Posted By elephantpp63

"Bladder and bowel services"

About: Community Services - North Devon / Bladder & Bowel Care Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / Urology

(as a service user),

I was referred to the bladder and bowel service after returning from hospital after I had been recovering from a stroke and continued to to be urinary incontinent. After seeing the urology team I had a diagnoses of a irritable bladder, very uncomfortable, my pelvic floor was also very weak.

The main conclusions to begin with were pelvic floor exercises and using incontinence pads, not a good conclusion. I was pointed to an app that nhs provide for pelvic floor exercises this was a load of rubbish. So  decided to look into other options. One of my friends pointed out a pelvic floor app that I could buy, it was easy to use and with in 12 weeks my situation had more or less changed.

Why o why can't the incontinence services point women to these types of treatment 

Now I'm happy to go out to lunch with my girl friends and have part of my life back.

Yes I did have knowledge of how the nhs works I was an ex employee and I was probably more aware of resources that could be available to me. Yes the staff were trying to do their best with limited resources and I know what a difficult situation they work under .

I will say they were always ready to listen and I thank them for this. Thank goodness we have an nhs.

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Responses

Response from Ruth Scrivens, Clinical Lead Bladder and Bowel Care (Northern Services), Bladder and Bowel Care (Northern Services), Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Trust 2 weeks ago
Ruth Scrivens
Clinical Lead Bladder and Bowel Care (Northern Services), Bladder and Bowel Care (Northern Services),
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Trust

Submitted on 03/03/2025 at 15:04
Published on Care Opinion at 15:04

Dear elephantpp63,

Thank you for posting your feedback on Care Opinion.

I am sorry to hear about your recent stroke and subsequent problems with urinary incontinence. You report that you saw the Urology team and received a diagnosis of irritable bladder and weak pelvic floor muscles. You were taught exercises to improve muscle function, were sign-posted to an app and advised on pads for containment.

There are several pelvic floor apps available; usually we advise downloading the NHS "Squeezy" app, which is £2.99. I am sorry if you did not find the app helpful, but it's great that you did find one that was more useful to you, and that with exercises your symptoms improved so dramatically. If you attend our clinic again in future, please do let us know which app you found most helpful - this type of information is really helpful to us.

I am really pleased that the staff were always ready to listen, and will pass your feedback onto them. It is always lovely to receive positive comments.

Best wishes,

Ruth Scrivens, Clinical Lead, Bladder and Bowel Care Service.

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