Continence Service
Our aim is for the children and young people we work with to achieve as much independence as possible, through management and improvement of their continence level.
Currently, our continence nurse manages the service, runs clinics across Wiltshire and works on individual interventions with young people and their families.
The role of our continence nurse is to work with children and young people aged 4-25 with SEND and their families, where there are continence problems.
Our continence nurse trains other professionals working in the community and work closely with them to help young people achieve some degree of continence. This training is intended to equip community health professionals, like school nurses or health visitors to carry out basic assessments and monitor need.
Our continence nurse also manages the assessment for, and supply of, incontinence products. If there is an assessed need for an incontinence product, these will be supplied by Medequip, but our continence nurse will explain what is involved if this is appropriate for your child.
We work with any child or young person with continence challenges in our catchment area and registered with a Wiltshire GP. We sometimes ask school nurses or health visitors to try and work with families before we do, to make sure underlying issues can be identified and dealt with where possible.
We work with young people up to their 18th birthday, when they will naturally transition to our adult team.
Our continence nurse currently works full time, usually 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday. There are clinics in 7 areas of Wiltshire each month:
- Trowbridge
- Warminster
- Chippenham hospital
- Savernake hospital
- Salisbury Central Health Clinic
- Canon's House Devizes
Our continence nurse works/liaises with and supports SEND schools across the county.
The service covers whole of Wiltshire except Swindon.
Children and young people can be referred to the service by any health professional and they can be seen for assessment in a clinic, school, respite facility or their own home.
Our continence nurse will meet with the child/ young person and their family for an initial appointment to establish what kind of lifestyle factors might be adding to their difficulties and talk about the goals they would like to work towards. They will then develop a strategy for managing and improving your young person's continence level and monitor improvements made with a three month follow-up appointment. New goals may be set as old ones are reached.
If a young person is using any continence products these will be monitored by our nurse every six months.
Young people or their parents can speak to a Wiltshire GP, Health visitor or school nurse.
Over 18
This service is part of the wider Wiltshire continence service and is based in the same offices and clinic areas as adult services. This means there is a natural progression and handover to the adult nurses, with no interruption to the young person's care.
If a young person is moving out of Wiltshire, our continence nurse can signpost and refer directly to appropriate services in the new county. Those moving into Wiltshire can enter directly into our service and their care does not need to be interrupted.
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