01 December 2021
Bladder and bowel difficulties affect 20% and 10% of the UK population, respectively (Percival et al, 2021). This is most likely not an accurate reflection of the true scale of this often under-reported health issue. Pelvic floor dysfunction can cause symptoms relating to many different systems and its management involves numerous modalities. The management of bladder, bowel and pelvic floor dysfunction should be delivered in the community via general practitioners, pelvic health physiotherapists and bladder and bowel services. An effective multidisciplinary approach using pathways to reduce secondary care involvement unless required should be adopted. Post Covid, community bladder and bowel services are recovering from prolonged redeployment, a backlog of cancelled patients and a rising waiting list. Acute services are the same, with even bigger backlogs for benign lower urinary tract dysfunction and prolapse assessment. Scrutiny of current bladder and bowel services across new clinical commissioning group (CCG) collaborations will undoubtedly uncover the disparity in quality of service provision.
