Quality standard

Quality statement 3: Containment products

Quality statement 3: Containment products

Quality statement

Women with urinary incontinence are only offered containment products as a temporary coping strategy, or as long-term management if treatment is unsuccessful.

Rationale

Containment products such as absorbent products, hand-held urinals and toileting aids can offer security and comfort for women with urinary incontinence. The products can help women to continue their normal daily activities and therefore improve quality of life. However, they are costly, can affect the woman's dignity and do not offer a long-term solution. Therefore, they should not be offered in the long term unless other treatments have failed.

Quality measures

The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.

Structure

Evidence of local arrangements to ensure that containment products are offered only as a temporary coping strategy for urinary incontinence in women or as long-term management if treatment is unsuccessful.

Data source: Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example, from service protocols.

Process

Proportion of women with urinary incontinence who are offered containment products as a temporary coping strategy or as long-term management if treatment is unsuccessful.

Numerator – the number in the denominator offered containment products as a temporary coping strategy or as long-term management if treatment is unsuccessful.

Denominator – the number of women with urinary incontinence who are offered containment products.

Data source: Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example, from patient records.

What the quality statement means for different audiences

Service providers (such as GP practices, community continence services and hospitals) ensure that services offer containment products (absorbent products, hand-held urinals and toileting aids) to women with urinary incontinence only as a temporary coping strategy or as long-term management if treatment is unsuccessful.

Health and social care professionals ensure that they offer containment products (absorbent products, hand-held urinals and toileting aids) to women with urinary incontinence only as a temporary coping strategy or as long-term management if treatment is unsuccessful.

Commissioners (such as integrated care systems and clinical commissioning groups) ensure that they commission services that offer women with urinary incontinence containment products (absorbent products, hand-held urinals and toileting aids) only as a temporary coping strategy or as long-term management if treatment is unsuccessful.

Women with leakage of urine may be offered products such as pads, hand-held urinals and toileting aids, but only as a temporary measure or in the longer term if treatment is unsuccessful. These products will help women to carry on with their normal daily activities.