About the service
The service consists of a team of specialist children’s nurses who support individuals with bladder and bowel problems, where primary advice and intervention by GP education staff, health visitor, school nurse or other health professional has not been successful.
We offer a confidential, friendly service, undertake a comprehensive assessment, which may include investigations such as stool samples, urinalysis, bladder scans, ultrasound scans, physical and abdominal examinations.
We provide a programme specific to the child or young person’s condition in order to promote continence. This may include self-help advice, medication, equipment or toileting aids.
Who do we see?
The service see children and young people aged 1-19 years, who are registered with a Gateshead GP who commonly have concerns such as:
- Constipation
- Soiling
- Stool withholding
- Day time wetting (over 5 years old)
- Nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting)
- Overactive bladder (urine urgency/ frequency)
- Those needing specialist interventions to support to achieve their toilet training developmental skill
Waiting Well
Sometimes you may have to wait longer to be seen by our service than we would like. Where possible, we may direct you to resources and interventions which you can try at home before your appointment. In some cases, this advice can help to maintain your wellbeing, reduce symptoms or provide ideas on things you can safely try yourself to overcome your problems.
- Speak to your child’s Health Visitor / School Nurse in the 0-19 team who can offer continued support and interventions (Growing Healthy 0-19 Gateshead | HDFT Childrens Health Service tel no 03000031918).
- Request reviews from the 0-19 team and continue to support interventions.
- Request a face to face review with your child’s GP, if no improvements in your child symptoms within 3/6 months.
- Seek medication review if medications not effective, if prescribed.
- Explore Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust website In this section, including Level One Information Area – Gateshead Health Healthy Bladder and Bowel Presentation
- Explore Bladder and Bowel UK website (children section) Bladder & Bowel UK home page – Bladder & Bowel UK
- Explore ERIC website Home – ERIC
- Explore Medicine for children websit Medicines-for-continenceOct24.pdf
Current expected waiting times
We strive to see everyone who is referred to us in a timely manner. We prioritise our appointments on clinical need and risk, so some people will wait longer than others.
Current waiting times for this service are updated here on a regular basis.
You can expect to wait no longer than 4-8 weeks for a group information session (updated July 2025).
Referral and journey through the children’s bladder and bowel service
Referral into the Specialist Children Bladder and Bowel service is only via a health professional such as your child’s GP or health visitor/school nurse.
Each referral is assessed to ensure the child/young person’s condition meets the service criteria. If the service criteria is not met, the referrer will be informed by letter. The family and GP will be copied into the letter.
If a child or young person meets the service criteria, the child is accepted into the service and the family signposted to review the presentation on our website.
Unless there are language barriers, a member of the child’s family is expected to attend the adult only ‘Group Information Session’ to opt into the service. This session allows time to discuss and explore issues and concerns around the child’s bladder and bowel issues, and facilitates discussion around advice, treatments and medications.
After attending a group session and opting into the service you will be sent an individual face to face appointment within 12 weeks. This enables the nurse to carry out an assessment, examination, and investigations to develop an individualised health care plan for the child to follow assisting in developing a healthy bladder and bowel.
A telephone review is offered after the face to face appointment within to ensure you have good understanding of treatment plan and medication management.
Families and professionals can use the Patient/Professional Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) for support during the six months after the child’s appointment. If no contact occurs in that time, care will return to the child’s GP for ongoing management.
If your child is unwell…
If you have any bladder and bowel concerns, please contact the child’s GP
initially.
Only attend the Accident and Emergency Department if the child / young person is very unwell and / or has urgent symptoms which may include:
Increasing abdominal pain
Increasing abdominal distention
Vomiting and unable to tolerate oral fluids
Reduced urine output
Blood in the urine (Haematuria)
Our Team
What people say about this service
‘Very important information given by the nurse. I’m so grateful, amazing advice’
‘It was a good service because they were helping me improve my drinking’
‘Really supportive and great at explanations’
‘Polite, professional, made me feel at ease, understanding’
‘Lovely friendly staff, they know how to talk to kids’
‘Understanding and child friendly’
‘Great advice, lots of time given’
‘The nurse explained everything in a thorough way. It was completely relevant to our family. We have a much better understanding of what we need to do’
Child – ‘The nurse helped me to eat more fruit and veg every day.’
Cancelling an Appointment
- If you need to cancel or rearrange a child’s appointment, please call the service as soon as possible on 0191 445 8417 between 8:30am and 4:00pm. Please note, cancelling two appointments in a row can lead to the service following the ‘was not brought‘ procedure outlined below.
- Cancelling unwanted appointments means we may be able to offer an appointment to someone else who is waiting.
Child ‘was not brought’ to their health appointment
- Children often do not have a choice about whether they are brought to health care appointments; the decisions are usually made by those caring for them. There is evidence to suggest that failure to attend health appointments can be linked to child neglect in some cases.
- This service therefore follows the Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust’s Safeguarding Children Policy, which includes a reporting pathway to our Safeguarding Children Team when a child is ‘not brought‘ to an appointment, and in some cases when appointments are cancelled. Sometimes when a child is not brought, we may also escalate our concerns to Children’s Social Care.
Where are Children’s Bladder and Bowel clinics and group sessions to be held?
Dunston Health Centre, Dunston Bank, Dunston, Gateshead NE11 9PY
Bus stops: Dunston Monument. Dunston Bank (swimming pool) Park Terrace, Ellison Road
Train: Dunston Station
Visual story
Please view these short presentations on how to access Dunston Health Centre and what to expect at your appointment.
How to contact the service
Opening Hours – Monday to Friday (excludes Bank Holidays)
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Useful Information
- Bladder and Bowel Specialist Service
- Understanding Comorbidities in children
- Bladder and Bowel UK
- The Children’s Bladder and Bowel Charity
- Growing Healthy
- Colostomy UK
- Mitrofanoff support
- Down Syndrome UK
- Shine Charity
- ERIC
Autism Acceptance Gold Award
Gateshead Health proud to have been awarded the prestigious Gold Autism Acceptance Award from the North East Autism Society (NEAS). NEAS has been a leading provider of neurodiversity and autism-specific care, education, training and employment services across the North East
In partnership with the North East Autism Society, the team is dedicated to making a positive impact on the lives of children in Gateshead.
Transition to adult services
Gateshead NHS Foundation Trusts services for children and young people provide care until a child is around 19 years old (this can vary and sometimes depends upon educational status and whether the young person has an Educational Healthcare Plan) then continuous support will be provided by adult services.
In healthcare, we use the word “transition” to describe the process of preparing, planning, and moving from children’s to adult services. Transition is a gradual process that gives a young person, and everyone involved in their care, time to get ready to move to adult services and discuss what their healthcare needs as an adult are likely to be. This includes deciding which services are best for you and where you will receive that care.
Transition is about making plans with the young person. Moving away from a team of health professionals that have been known for many years can be scary but hopefully, by getting involved in the transition process, the young person will feel more confident and happier about the move. Transition will vary from service to service but may involve attending a special appointment where health professionals from the current services ‘introduce’ the young person to health professionals from the services they will attend once they are an adult.
Other Local Children’s Services
The Gateshead Local Offer brings together information for children and young people aged 0-25 years with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families.
This includes information about services and support, and advice and guidance on education, health, social care and transport.
This service is an integrated service for families, expectant mothers, children and young people that offers interventions from the pre-natal stage up to the age of 19. Harrogate and District Foundation Trust leads on the delivery of this service, with a focus on working across services and organisational boundaries to improve public health outcomes. The universal reach of the HCP provides an invaluable opportunity from early in a child’s life to identify families that need additional support and children who are at risk of poor outcomes.
About your medical records:
This service shares information with GP’s and other health care professionals to ensure that you receive appropriate care. If you do not wish to have your clinical information shared then please inform the clinician at your appointment. Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust is a part of the Great North Care Record.
This means we make information we record about you available electronically on the Great North Care Record. Health and care staff from other organisations in the North East and North Cumbria who are involved in your care can then access this information. It helps us make your care better and safer. If you want to find out more about the Great North Care Record, or have any concerns; visit the website www.greatnorthcarerecord.org.uk, email [email protected] or call the helpline on 0344 811 9587 (open Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm).