NHS Waste Half a BILLION Pounds a Year Due to Substandard Incontinence Care

The NHS is ‘leaking’ more than half a BILLION pounds a year – through substandard incontinence care, according to a report. There are currently 164,833 people in residential care and nursing homes who experience difficulty with bladder or bowel control. But an eight-week value-based procurement pilot carried out at two care homes in Lincolnshire has exposed both the cost, and indignity, of cheap, ill-fitting pads and protection. The study, carried out by hygiene and health company Essity in partnership with the NHS, investigated the impact of providing more clinically appropriate products in lieu of those chosen on unit cost alone. Read more.

Source: Yahoo! News UK, October 11, 2023

Dementia, Incontinence and the Loss of Dignity in Acute Hospitals

Continence care for people with dementia in acute wards has been described both as a “crisis of dehumanization” and a “key moment of care” that can reveal a great deal about the wider hospital care of this highly vulnerable population (Boddington and Featherstone, 2018). “The challenge of continence care for people living with dementia can be seen as the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for the unravelling of dignity within the acute setting” (Boddington and Featherstone, 2018). Read more.

Source: Nursing Times, March 13, 2023

Let’s talk: Post-acute rehab patients need to be looped in about incontinence care, study finds

Post-acute care nurses are right on target with continence assessment and management, a new study finds. But their patients are largely unaware of these activities and think they’re going it alone, investigators say. The researchers conducted interviews with 10 nursing staff and 10 patients in two geriatric units of a rehabilitation hospital. Perhaps not surprisingly, nurses and patients had very different experiences of incontinence care. Read more.

Source: Urology Times, November 12, 2021

Essity Launches Pilot of Digital Incontinence Solution

Hygiene and health company Essity, which makes TENA incontinence and skincare products, has launched a pilot program of its TENA SmartCare Change Indicator, a system that uses digital sensors and a smartphone app to reduce manual checks of incontinence patients. Cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year, SmartCare Change Indicator notifies caregivers via smartphone when they should consider changing a patient’s TENA absorbent products. Read more.

Source: HME Business, October 29, 2020

Essity Partners with Plug and Play to Drive New Innovation in Hygiene

Essity, one of the world’s leading hygiene and health companies, announced that it will expand its partnership with Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play. Plug and Play is the world’s leading startup accelerator and open innovation platform that connects startup companies with corporations for business development and investment opportunities. Essity joined Plug and Play’s Health & Wellness innovation platform last year to gain access to the company’s global ecosystem of startups, focusing on technologies that would strengthen Essity’s feminine care and baby care products. The relationship has now expanded to include professional hygiene and incontinence products. Read more.

Source: Market Insiders, April 27, 2018

New Outcome Measures to Improve Standards for Incontinence Care

A new consensus-based study has for the first time identified what a set of outcome measures and key performance indicators (KPIs) might look like for toileting and containment strategies, helping patients and professionals in the delivery of incontinence management. These findings were launched yesterday in Rome, Italy, at the 7th Global Forum on Incontinence (GFI) on the topic of ‘Driving outcomes in continence care – creating a win-win for patients, carers and health systems’. The study, ‘Measuring outcomes to improve the management of continence care’, was initiated by Essity, a leading global hygiene and health company, led by an expert panel and facilitated by KPMG’s Global Strategy Group. Read more.

Source: Health Europa, April 19, 2018