Exploring possibilities for Community Pharmacy to widen accessibility to bladder and bowel continence promotion
Background
Bladder and bowel leakage (incontinence) is more common than often recognised and can be very difficult to discuss, preventing access to treatments and support. Many causes for these symptoms mean that up to one third of the UK adult population can be affected at different points across the lifecourse.
Self-help strategies can be very effective if people have timely access to advice and information. Knowing when to seek help is also essential to enable proactive treatment of these symptoms
An opportunity for continence promotion was identified in the community pharmacy setting, where people often buy products to manage their leakage. Given that community pharmacies are accessible, local and increasingly provide additional services, the PRIME team wanted to explore the potential to improve bladder and bowel leakage closer to home.
What will the PRIME project do?
The PRIME project provides an opportunity to explore the possibilities for improved continence promotion in the community pharmacy setting. The project includes three areas of focus:
- A review of the evidence will be undertaken to identify if there is anything we can learn to inform our exploration and support the PRIME project.
- Listening to those with views on this area:
- A UK Wide survey will be undertaken to hear from community pharmacy colleagues about what they already do related to continence promotion, what they might be prepared to do, and what they will need to achieve this.
- Interviews and focus groups will be carried out with stakeholders, including healthcare professionals and the public, to establish views on this new initiative and how it might work.
- Co-production workshops to bring together a new Pharmacy Bladder and Bowel Service (PBBS) for testing in a follow-up study. These workshops will develop the scope, content and resources for this service and identify levers required to make the PBBS feasible in the real world.
Who is funding this research?
The PRIME project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research Research for Patient Benefit funding stream (Reference: NIHR202212).