University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust

My pledge was to facilitate project work to offer women the option of in-out (intermittent) catheterisation as an alternative to an indwelling catheter for post-operative urinary retention following elective hip and knee joint replacement surgery.

We aim to promote earlier return to normal bladder function and reduce the risk of urinary tract infection.

Our work will enable us to (1) avoid unnecessary use of indwelling urinary catheters, (2) enable early detection and management of post-operative urinary retention and acute kidney injury and (3) utilise alternative toileting strategies, including intermittent catheterisation, to improve patient safety.

We have developed a new procedure for intermittent catheterisation using aseptic non-touch technique, together with optimising patient assessment using the bladder ultrasound scanner.

We commenced use of intermittent catheters in Fab Change week and will be evaluating the impact of this on recovery and patient experience.