Formerly Northland DHB Continence Service

Our Service

Our continence nurse specialist and district nursing teams work with patients who have continence problems and links with other clinicians such as geriatricians, physiotherapists, dietitians and occupational therapists as required.

The service provides:

• Assessment of urinary and faecal incontinence
• Bladder retraining programmes
• Bladder and bowel management care and advice
• Education for patients/caregivers
• Referral to a continence physiotherapist for assessment and treatment
• Consultation and advice on medication-induced incontinence

What is urinary incontinence?

Urinary incontinence is described as the loss of bladder control with unintentional, involuntary loss of urine. This can vary from slight loss after sneezing or getting out of a chair to complete inability to control urination at any time throughout the day and night.

There are four different types of incontinence and it is important to differentiate between each in order to treat the incontinence appropriately: 

• Stress
• Urge
• Overflow
• Functional

What is faecal incontinence?

Faecal incontinence is described as inability to control the passage of faeces.

It can be severe or minor with only smearing or full bowel emptying. It is important to find the cause to be able to treat faecal incontinence appropriately.