On 25th September, the PI travelled to Coventry Arena to launch the project at Bladder & Bowel UK’s Annual Healthcare Professional Symposium. The Symposium attracted around 200 delegates from all over the country; delegates largely consisted of professional continence nurses running enuresis clinics aimed at children across different counties and were looking to find out about the latest academic research and technological innovations.
Alongside talks by urologists, pelvic health physiotherapists, paediatricians and other specialists, an exhibition hall hosted stalls by various medical equipment companies, charities, researchers and others. It was in the exhibition hall that the Buzzers for Bedwetters team set up their stall promoting the project.
Conversations with delegates and representatives from companies made clear that the stigma associated with incontinence found in the historic records is still ever present today. Particularly interesting were new innovations aimed at minimising this stigma. For example, one company produced a catheter with a case that resembled a cosmetic device, allowing women with incontinence to carry around their catheter in their handbags. Another company pioneered a specialist delivery service for continence supplies; demand for this discreet service was high and allowed delivery of these items to resemble the delivery of other goods from companies like Evri or Amazon.
Overall then, these conversations raised healthcare professional and company awareness of the fact that incontinence stigma has a long history and that this history needs to be better understood to challenge the stigma today.