Share Your Incontinence Story and Help Others
Sharing your experiences can help and inspire others who may be in a similar situation. That’s why we’d love to add some of your stories about managing incontinence or caring for someone with incontinence to our website.
If you’d like to share your story and experiences please email us at info@allanda.co.uk
Each story published on the website will receive a £20 Marks and Spencer Voucher.
Urology and Incontinence on the BBC
The BBC website is currently running a series focusing on medical specialisms and recently featured an article on Julian Shah, a consultant urologist.
The article is very interesting, not just talking about the different types of incontinence but also talking about the different steps involved in treatment (focused on longer term cures beyond incontinence pants and incontinence pads). The article again talks about the importance of pelvic floor exercises, and also highlights the importance of discussing the condition with a health professional as there are a large varieties of treatment available nowadays.
This is demonstrated when Mr. Shah talks about his most satisfying case – “I had a man of 50 who had spina bifida and had been incontinent all his life. He was a very wealthy man and had everything he wanted except continence. After investigation and treatment he was perfectly dry and his life was transformed. We do see a lot of patients like that whose lives are transformed by our interventions. Patients are sometimes too shy to come forward and do not realise there is anything for them – there are probably tens of thousands of people out there who do not realise there is something that can be done for them.”
For the full article visit the BBC website or to read more about the causes and treatments for incontinence you can visit the help and advice section of our website.
Urinary Incontinence overview on YouTube
We mentioned last week about an excellent video about incontinence on YouTube. The article focusses on Urinary Incontinence and is American but contains an excellent visual overview on how the bladder works and what causes Urinary Incontinence.
It also talks about the size of the problem and the social impacts of the condition. It contains some interesting information from recent research showing that 28% of women in their 30′s experience incontinence at least once a month and that overall about 50% of American women experience incontinence on a regular basis.
It also emphasises the point that it’s important not to suffer in silence and to talk to your GP or a health professional about this who can advise on treatments to improve or cure the condition. The full video can be seen here.
Useful Incontinence Information on YouTube
A customer emailed us a link earlier today to YouTube. We’ve not been aware of Incontinence being featured on this increasingly popular medium before but it’s a very informative piece. We’ll write a more detailed review soon. Click Here to see the video.
Incontinence Pads and Pant Brands
We often get asked about which brands of incontinence products we stock, so to help out those who have asked here’s a quick review:
Disposable Incontinence Pads – We stock both the full range of Tena pads and also some Lille all-in-one pads and shaped pads (standard and light).
Disposable Incontinence Pants – At present we only stock Tena pull-up incontinence pants as these offer the largest choice of sizes and absorbencies. We are able to order in Lille pull-up pants at excellent prices for those who prefer these.
Washable Incontinence Pants – We stock the full range of Ganmill products and also some Kylie and Kange incontinence products as well.
For those seeking other brands such as Hartmann, Abena and Attends incontinence products we are generally able to obtain these so please email us if there is a specific item you are looking for.
Don’t forget Allanda also offers a large range of bedding and other accessories from a variety of manufacturers, all of which are chosen specifically for their quality and value.
BBC Radio 4 focuses on Care in the UK
Following on from yesterday’s news, BBC Radio 4 are running a series of programmes throughout January focussing on Care in the UK.
These cover many aspects of care including caring for the elderly, caring for the young, dementia and care provision.
More details can be found here on the BBC website.
New Report Calls For Fairer System of Care Funding
Most people would be happy to contribute to the costs of long-term care for the elderly, but want a fairer system, a report by Caring Choices suggests.
A consultation of 700 people showed high levels of dissatisfaction with means testing and the “postcode lottery” over social care entitlements.
The King’s Fund think tank, which led the work, said many people felt the current system was not satisfactory. The number of people needing long-term care is set to rise by 50% by 2026 making this a serious issue over the coming years.
Nine in ten respondents to the “Caring Choices” consultation thought everyone should be entitled to some funding from the government and most people thought the current system of means testing unfairly penalised people who had made provision for their old age. One option favoured by respondents was for people to receive a baseline entitlement, regardless of their income and wealth, with the individual also paying a contribution.
The “Caring Choices” consultation, carried out by a coalition of 15 organisations, also found widespread calls for better support for unpaid carers. Julia Unwin, director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which was also involved in the work, said the findings showed people wanted greater clarity about their entitlements.
“At present many older people and carers feel unsupported by a system that too often seems to be working against them, rather than giving them essential support at a time of their life when they are at their most vulnerable.”
More details can be found on the Caring Choices website.
Incontinence in the News Again
We wrote yesterday about how rarely incontinence features in the press and pointed out a recent article in The Times. In fact it seems to be a popular topic at the moment as a regular customer emailed us to point out an article from The Independent last month.
The article talks about one particular reader’s own experiences of incontinence and the benefits of pelvic floor exercises and again highlights how common the condition is saying that the condition affects “40 per cent of women over 40, according to a UK urinary study carried out in 2000 by the Medical Research Council”.
The article also talks about the TVT surgical procedure which offers a longer term alternative to using incontinence pads or pants for some patients.
The full article text can be found here.
Incontinence in the News
Incontinence is an extremely common condition yet rarely features in the press.
This is primarily due to the taboos that still surround the condition. So it was good to see an article by Dr. Thomas Stuttaford and Suzi Godson in The Times on the weekend talking about the impact of incontinence and how common it is.
The article quotes some interesting statistics from America saying: “One recent research survey showed that nearly a third of female hard-hitters on the tennis court leaked a drop or two, and another study found that one American female student in five suffered minor stress incontinence daily.”
Although the article doesn’t cover the use of Incontinence Pants or Pads it does talk about the importance of Pelvic Floor Exercises.
The full article text can be found here.
Buying Incontinence Pads and Pants Safely Online
Allanda takes customer service and security very seriously and this is confirmed by the large amounts of positive feedback and testimonials we receive from customers. Now this has been recognised with accreditation by Safebuy the Home Accreditation scheme for web retailers.
The SafeBuy Consumer Code of Practice has successfully completed the first stage of the OFT’s Consumer Codes Approval Scheme and this code of practise recognises the things that we consider important for our customers:
* Security of credit card and personal data handling
* Clear pricing and delivery charges shown
* Effective contact points for post, email and phone
* Cancellation options spelt out in simple terms
* Best practice procedures in handling any consumer complaints