Continence

Referral

Any health professional can make a referral on your behalf by using the online forms within Systm One (clinical health record), or you can self-refer by calling 01274 221167.

Waiting list

Once your referral is received, it will be reviewed by a specialist continence nurse, and you will be booked to see the most appropriate health professional for your needs. We are a specialist team who with work with you to improve and manage your bladder and/or bowel symptoms.

Assessment

Following your referral being reviewed, you will be sent a letter regarding your appointment. Please ensure to bring with you a urine sample if stated so on the letter and complete any bladder or bowel diaries that have been included. These assessment tools can allow the nurse to better understand your symptoms and advise the most appropriate course of treatment or management.

After your appointment

After your initial appointment, you will be given a follow up appointment where your treatment and management plan will be reviewed.

You may find these resources helpful:

Eat well – NHS advice on eating a healthy, balanced diet

10 ways to stop leaks – NHS advice on urinary incontinence

Reducing alcohol – NHS advice on cutting down on alcohol if you regularly drink more than 14 units a week

Weight loss plan – NHS advice on making small, simple changes to help you lose weight

Stop Smoking – NHS advice on stopping smoking, its never too late to quit

Drinking for a healthy bladder – advice on what and how much to drink from bladderandbowel.org

Bladder and Bowel Community – supporting millions of people in the UK who are living with conditions that affect their bladder or bowel. Support, information and guidance whether you have a condition yourself or are a relative, friend or carer of someone who does.

TENA Direct | Shop for TENA incontinence products – online retailer for pads

We need to make some changes to our continence pads provision

Bradford District Care Trust is commissioned to provide continence pads for adults in Bradford District and Craven who have had a specialist assessment of their needs. The cost of providing these pads has risen greatly over the last five years, whilst our budget has stayed the same, leading to a deficit.

In the last year 2024/25, the total spend on continence pads provision was approximately £2.1 million against a budget of c£1.3 million, leading to an overspend of more than £720,000.

As there is no additional budget available, we are proposing some changes which will enable us to reduce spending whilst ensuring we continue to support our service users. We propose three key changes:

• extending our delivery cycles,
• stopping the provision of lower absorbency pads, and
• reducing the number of pants and pads provided free of charge.

Full details of why we need to make these changes, the changes we propose and how we aim to be fair and supportive to our service users, especially people with the greatest need, are available here:

• proposed changes to continence pads provision – please use the ‘select language’ tool at the top right of the page next to the search button to view the page in the language of your choice
• easier read version of proposed changes to continence pads provision.

Please give your feedback on the proposed changes

We are keen to hear your thoughts and views on the proposed changes. You can do this by:

• • filling in this short online questionnaire
  • requesting a paper version of the questionnaire, or a version in a different language by calling us on 01274 221167 or emailing continencefeedback@bdct.nhs.uk – we will post this to your home address and ask you to post your feedback to Continence Engagement, New Mill, Victoria Road, Saltaire, BD18 3LD
  • attending one of our in-person or online engagement events

Feedback events

To book for any of these in-person or online events, please call us on 01274221167 or email continencefeedback@bdct.nhs.uk.

Keighley – Friday 10 October, 10.00am – 12.00pm, Central Hall, Alice Street, Keighley, BD21 3JD – get directions

Online – Monday 13 October, 6.00pm – 7.00pm, online (we will send you a link to join the event when you book)

Skipton – Wednesday 15 October, 12.00pm – 2.00pm Skipton Town Hall (Education Room), High Street, Skipton BD23 1AH – get directions

Bradford – Wednesday 22 October, 12.30pm – 2.30pm, The Thornbury Centre (John Day Hall), 79 Leeds Old Road, Bradford, BD3 8JX – get directions

Collecting and reviewing your feedback

We are collecting feedback from service users and others until midnight on Friday 5 December.

We will review all the feedback we receive up to and including that date and create an outcome report which we will upload here one week after the consultation closes.