Access to continence services and products
Health and Social Care Bill
Written evidence from Urology User Group Coalition
March 2011
The MS Trust is a member of the Urology User Group and as part of this group we have worked with several other charities to submit comments on continence issues within the Health and Social Care bill.
Commissioning continence services
The House of Commons Health Select Committee published its report on commissioning continence services on 18 January 2011. This set out a number of issues where the Committee felt further work was needed and asked interested parties for submissions on these specific issues by 28 February.
The Urology User Group Coalition (UUGC), of which the MS Trust is a member, intended to make a response, which will be posted here when available.
- Health Select Committee follow-up inquiry into Commissioning - on the Parliamnt webiste
Consensus on the management of bladder symptoms
In 2008, Professor Claire Fowler, consultant urologist at the Department of Uro-Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, approached the MS Trust to facilitate the publication of a UK consensus on the management of the bladder in multiple sclerosis. The completed document was published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (JNNP).
At the launch of the document, Prof Fowler said, "Urinary incontinence is one of the worst symptoms of MS often leading to people being forced to give up work, or feeling trapped in their homes. We have good management options which should be more freely available and the use of botulinum toxin A bladder injections and intermittent self catheterisation means that we now have a highly effective treatment if first line measures are not enough. Proper management of bladder symptoms at each stage of this variably progressive condition can dramatically improve peoples' quality of life."
The MS Trust will now be campaigning to ensure that people with MS across the UK have access to the management strategies outlined in the paper.
- Read the abstract of the paper in JNNP
- Read the MS Trust's full press release
- Treating MS bladder symptoms - Open Door article by Prof Fowler
Uncertainty in the management of urinary incontinence
The MS Trust has been part of a panel of charities, health professionals and academics working with the James Lind Alliance to identify 'clinical uncertainties' in the management of bladder problems. The final list of prioritised uncertainties was published in September 2009.