Products to help with Incontinence
Introduction
For details of individual products and suppliers please visit our
products directory
Most people with bladder and bowel control problems can be treated.
This is much preferable to living with the problem. The products
described in this section are not a cure. But they may be used as
part of a treatment or to control leaks so you can carry on your
life as usual.
Many (but not all) are available on the NHS,
and some can also be bought in high street pharmacies and by mail
order. Check out how to obtain your products.
But it is important that you get medical or nursing advice. Do
not just rely on products. A professional assessment will probably
lead to treatment that can cure you or at least bring about a big
improvement in your condition.
That said, for many people products such as those described here
make all the difference between a very restricted life and a quite
normal one.
Making The Choice
There is a wide range of products of many types: pads of various
kinds, urinals, catheters, sheaths, and so on: over 2,500 different
makes, types and sizes are listed in the Continence Foundation's
Continence Products Directory! You can see examples of most of these
products at an exhibition in Manchester.
What will suit you depends not just on your condition but also
to some extent on your lifestyle - whether you go in for sport,
travel a lot, or have help for your personal care, for example.
Consider mixing and matching products, from day to night, or according
to your activities, or if your needs vary.
Some products are easier to use than others. If you have difficulty
using your hands, dressing or undressing, or your eyesight is not
good, think about how you are going to apply, use and remove the
product.
Shopping around before buying large quantities of a throw-away
(disposable) product can save money. Some companies sell trial packs
of disposable pads, and you may be able to borrow some products
through your local continence service - things like urinals, for
example.
Most importantly, do not be put off if one product does not work
well for you: be prepared to try others. Newer and better products
are being constantly introduced.
How to Obtain Your Products
Many products should be available to you through the National
Health Service from your local continence service or from your
GP (some are on prescription, others - especially absorbent pads
- are simply given or delivered to you). Sometimes, however, you
will have to buy them yourself - for example:
- if your local NHS has introduced rationing to keep within
its budget - see our section
on politics and policy
- if you want more products than the NHS believes you need
- if you prefer other brands than those your local NHS Trust
or Primary Care Group supplies.
Some items are available in high street pharmacies and (increasingly)
in supermarkets - for example, absorbent pads for light incontinence
- and pharmacies will of course be able to dispense prescriptions.
Most people who need to buy products, however, use mail order services
offered by manufacturers or distributors.
Women buying absorbent products in the high street should resist
the temptation to use sanitary towels to cope with incontinence:
they are made to a quite different specification and have far less
absorbency than continence pads - typically they can cope with only
one tenth the leakage of the proper article. Although incontinence
pads are more expensive (partly because they carry a higher
rate of VAT), they are far better value.
Absorbent products and some others can be safely used without medical
supervision - although we always recommend getting a professional
assessment of your problem - but some devices should be used only
if proposed or prescribed by a doctor, nurse or physiotherapist.
 PromoCon
You can visit a permanent exhibition at Disabled Living in Manchester
where examples of all of the products mentioned in this section
are on display.
The exhibition is run by PromoCon,
a project run by Disabled Living and supported (among others) by
the Continence Foundation. They produce on behalf of the Continence
Foundation our comprehensive Continence
Products Directory, which lists almost 3,000 separate items
relevant to the management of continence.
The PromoCon Information Service on 0161 834 2001 provides impartial
advice on products to members of the public and to health professionals.
(Similar advice for the public is also available through the
Continence Foundation Helpline.)
Some of the text in this section of our website is taken from the
introductory material to our Continence Products Directory and some
from a booklet produced by PromoCon and Ricability, an independent
charity linked to the Consumers Association that researches and
publishes unbiased information on products and services to enable
elderly and disabled people to live more independently.
Copies of the booklet, Choosing Products for Bladder and Bowel
Control, are available free of charge (please send an A5 size
stamped addressed envelope with 33p of postage) from:
PromoCon
Disabled Living, St Chad's Street, Manchester, M8 8QA
Tel: 0161 834 2001
Fax: 0161 835 3591
Ricability
24 Highbury Crescent, London N5 1RX
Tel: 020 7427 2460
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