A new policy on eligibility for incontinence pads has been welcomed by patients in Nottinghamshire. The county's primary care trust (PCT) used to ask patients to bring in their soiled incontinence pads for weighing in order to determine whether they qualified for a prescription. But pressure from disgruntled patients has led the PCT to change its criteria. Janet Poulson, whose 84-year-old mother had refused to return to her local clinic in Kirkby-in-Ashfield because of its policy, told the Eastwood & Kimberley News that she was pleased about the u-turn. She said: "It's great they've changed it (the policy). It will be a lot better for everybody. It was terrible we had to go through all that. I will take my mum back down there now." Andrew Kenworthy, chief executive of Nottinghamshire PCT, confirmed: "We have reviewed the policy and have now changed the way that eligibility is assessed for the prescription of incontinence pads." The PCT had previous stated that its policy was introduced in response to budget cuts and people abusing the system of handing out products for incontinence - a condition that affects more than 50 million people in the developed world.