
The Community Paediatric Continence Service (Level 2) for children and young people aged 0-19 provides assessment, treatment and support for children and young people with bladder and bowel dysfunction, where first line intervention (Level 1) has not led to a resolution of the problem.
The aim of this service is to promote continence for all children and young people in order to try and reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and tertiary referrals.
The service provides support for children and young people who experience daytime wetting, night time wetting and constipation either to achieve complete continence, or to manage their continence condition discreetly and effectively if full control is not clinically possible. This includes children with learning and/or physical difficulties.
The service offers:
This service comprises of one Band 7 Specialist Paediatric Continence Nurse who is holds a Children’s Nursing Qualification (RN qualification) and has extensive experience of working with young people for over 25 years.
There is also one Administrator with many years of experience in NHS administration who works part time (Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s only 9am-5.30pm).
You will be asked to complete a bowel and bladder diary with your child and return to the service via email as soon as possible — paedcontinence@nelft.nhs.uk
This will aid the team to assess the continence issue fully and advice on the appropriate treatment plan at the initial assessment. Instructions on how to do this will be on the charts. Delay in completing this will delay treatment.
We ask for bowel and bladder diaries even if it is only a single continence issue e.g. bowel or bladder, as a problem with one can affect the function of the other.
Our skilled nurse specialist will carry out a full assessment with you to identify the bowel or bladder problem which will last approximately 1 hour. This is done through general conversation via an initial telephone consultation. There are no physical examinations during the assessment. Face to face appointments can be requested if you felt your child would benefit from this interaction with the nurse.
At the end of the assessment a plan of care to best meet the needs of the child will be agreed.
This may include;
Following the initial assessment your child will be reviewed regular intervals to assess progress and offer support and guidance during the treatment plan.
Once the bowel or bladder problem has been successfully treated or managed as best it can then you will be discharged from the service. Your child may also be referred to hospital services if the continence issue can not be resolved or managed sufficiently.
Clinics are held every Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday by the Paediatric Continence Specialist Nurse. Assessments with the Paediatric Continence Specialist Nurse are a blend of telephone and face to face consultations with also the availability of video calling as appropriate to meet the needs of the individual family.
Face to face clinics are held at:
Specialist Community Health Services for Children and Young People
The Grove
Grove Road
Chadwell Heath
RM6 4XH
Clinic telephone number: 0300 300 1618
Paediatric specialist continence Team email address: PaedContinence@nelft.nhs.uk
Follow the link to ERIC's website for information on children’s bladder and bowel - go to Information and Advice heading for further information — ERIC
Referrals are only accepted from G.P / School Health/Health Visiting) / Community/ Hospital Consultants and any other professionals.
Referrals can be emailed using the single referral form through single point of access (SPA) — please click here for the form Single Point of Access Referral to Redbridge Children's Services
Following Level 1 intervention the NELFT SPA Referral Form must be completed and sent to the service as below:
Useful information resource for parents/professionals to use prior to making a referral WWW.eric.org.uk.
Those children not requiring level 2 intervention but require continence containment products will be supported/assessed and managed under the care of Universal Services – Please contact: