Incontinence News

School Water Campaign for Continence

During the warm days of the summer, many of us will be drinking more water and other drinks to quench our thirst and to cool us down. In our offices, most of us take it for granted that we can go and get a drink when we want one.

Have you checked your child’s school toilets? 

Recent research carried out by the national charity ERIC (Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence) has highlighted the importance of the standard of school toilets and their value to the health and wellbeing of our children. 

Spotting toilet related health problems in children

A  survey of 5 – 16 year olds attending Sheffield Children’s Hospital paediatric outpatient clinics over a four-week period, found that over half avoided using school toilets, with around a quarter prepared to use them only if desperate.

This toilet avoidance can lead to children ‘hanging on’ and only using the toilet when they get home which for young bladders and bowels can be a damaging daily occurrence. Frequent ‘hanging on’ can lead to toilet related health problems such as constipation and wetting. Day and night-time wetting and soiling (leakage when constipated) effect more than one in 12 (about 750,000) five to 16 year olds in the UK.