Is your child getting unsuitable continence products?

06 December 2018

Our template letter can help you make a complaint to your local authority if you have been told that you are entitled to fewer incontinence products than you need.

Is your child getting unsuitable continence products?

06 December 2018

Our template letter can help you make a complaint to your local authority if you have been told that you are entitled to fewer incontinence products than you need.

Nappies

 

Have you been told that your child can’t have the type of continence product that she needs? Are you concerned about the quality of the products you use? Read on to find out what you can do to make sure your child gets suitable products.

Our Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) Project helps families who are struggling to get the support they need from health or social care services. We helped Louise get continence products for her daughter, Rhiannon and asked the Welsh Government to make sure that its guidance did not set a daily ‘maximum’ on the number of products available to families.

We also know from our work with families that the type and/or quality of products can cause problems too. We recently heard from a parent who wanted ‘pull-ups’ for her daughter instead of nappies. She was told that her local health authority didn’t supply them and she contacted the LEaP Project for help.

We wrote a template letter to help the parent make a complaint to her local health authority. Our letter quotes from the relevant guidance, which makes it clear that children should be assessed and provided with products which meet their individual needs. We wanted to share this template letter with other families who might find themselves in a similar situation.

So, if you’ve been told that your child can’t have the products s/he needs, you can use our template letter to make a complaint. We have separate versions for England and Wales.

8 thoughts on “Is your child getting unsuitable continence products?”

  1. Do you have any information about when child turns 16 for adults incontinence team’s as in pull ups which i have proven suitable and are at the moment no problem receiving.

    1. Hi Kat, we can’t advise you on specific products but if you give our helpline a call on 0800 3281159, they should be able to point you in the right direction.

  2. Mrs Kim Thompson

    How strange that before I received your email concerning Continence Products I had just written a letter to the Supplier saying that the last assignments for our sons was unfit for purpose. They now have less padding and are narrower. They are the same make as we’ve had for a while but you can tell they are skimping on materials now. My sons are now 27 and 20 and we’ve had the odd products that were inadequate but now every pack is. Their clothes are getting soiled so much more whereas most times its avoided when the padding is good. Not happy at all. Why is there always more work to do when you are inundated with things 24/7.
    I am going to look at your template now as I’m sure I’ll get no help from the suppliers and need some other ideas if so!
    Thanks Cerebra.

  3. I was told the same thing about not supplying ‘pull-ups’ years ago. My daughter was incontinent through the day until she was nine. Fourteen now and she is still incontinent through the night. She refused to wear ‘nappies’ about four years ago. I was told that there was no help to purchase or supply bed protection/pads. Too often I feel I am talking to professionals who don’t have any knowledge or experience of caring for children/adolescents/adults with special healthcare needs.

  4. I’ve been told I can’t have ANY products at all for my 8.5 year old autistic twins who are not dry at night. And that this is NICE guidelines. Is that correct? Thanks

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