Who are we?
The Bladder and Bowel Nursing Team are a small team of nurses who have specialist knowledge in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment and management of adult bladder and bowel dysfunction.
Within the Bladder and Bowel team, there are two Bladder and Bowel Services for Care Homes in Lothian: one service for Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian and another service for West Lothian.
On this page you will find details of what each individual Bladder and Bowel service offers Care Homes in their locality area (i.e contact details & referral information, tools for Care Homes and product information) as well as Bladder and Bowel information offerred to Care Homes in all HSCP areas .
Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian
There is a Bladder and Bowel Nurse Specialist and a HCSW Product Specialist to specifically support Care Homes who have residents with a bladder and/or bowel dysfunction in Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian.
Contact & Referral Details
Please use the below details to contact the team for any enquiries or to make a referral.
Please note this referral service is for Care Home staff to refer residents to the service, referrals are not able to be made by anyone else.
All residents should be assessed by the Care Home staff, prior to any referral to the Bladder and Bowel Care Home Team. Following this, should the resident require specialist advice referrals can be made to our team for Care Home residents living in Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian by completing the Bladder and Bowel Care Home Team Referral Form please return it to the team – details below.
Please note for email contact or referral residents details should only be shared via an NHS secured email address.
Bladder and Bowel Nurse Specialist and Product Specialist
Care Home Support Team
Blackford Pavilion
Astley Ainslie Hospital
33 Grange Loan
Edinburgh
EH9 2HL
OR
Email the form (using a secure email account) to Loth.BBCH@NHS.scot and a member of the team will get back to you.
Telephone advice available:
Telephone: 0131 446 4324 (for advice regarding assessment, diagnosis, treatment and management options)
Please note: Advice line for health professionals available Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday from 2.00pm to 4.00pm only.
For more information on obtaining a secure email address please see the Secure Email Account page
Bladder and Bowel Assessment Tools for
Care Home Staff
All Care Home residents identified as having a new or worsening bladder and/or bowel dysfunction should have initial assessment completed by Care Home staff . A treatment and/or management plan should then be implemented and reviewed – this must be completed prior to referral to the Bladder and Bowel Care Home Team.
Below you can access assessment forms and other resources which can assist you with assessment, treatment and management of individual residents.
Essential documentation
Useful information
The Continence Care Service & Product Ordering
Our purpose is to promote high quality professional assessment as foundation of high quality continence care.
The Continence Care Service provides the following services for Care Home residents in Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian.
List of services:
- The Bladder and Bowel Nursing Team
- Ontex Healthcare Home Delivery
- Prescription and ordering service for adult urology items in conjunction with local pharmacies
Following assessment and diagnosis, a treatment plan is provided. If treatment is unsuccessful or inappropriate then assessment and registration to provide incontinence products from NHS Lothian formulary is put forward.
Please note for advice and support with stoma bags, please contact:
Email: stomacareservice@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Telephone: 0131 537 2191
Product Ordering
All residents with a new or worsening bladder and/or bowel problem must be fully assessed by Care Home staff (see the assessment tools section above) and a treatment plan initiated prior to the consideration of ordering incontinence pad and urology items.
The aim is to ensure that residents are provided with the most appropriate product to meet their needs from the agreed national formulary.
Incontinence pads are ordered through Ontex Healthcare
Registered residents orders are placed by calling 0345 216 0001.
To register a resident submit a Care Home Product Requirement Form
Urology items To register a resident submit a Care Home Urology Appliance Request Form.
Registered residents orders are placed by calling 0131 537 4572 then press option 1. This includes :
- Catheters
- Leg bags
- Night Bags
Ordering related documentation
- Care Home Product Formulary (September 2023)
- Care Home Product Requirement Form (March 2023)
- Care Home Urology Appliance Request Form (August 2025)
- Continence Products Trouble Shooting Guide
- Catheter Passport
Information updated October 2025 by MG and HS
West Lothian
Contact & Referral Details
Please use the below details to contact the team for any enquiries or to make a referral.
Please note this referral service is for Care Home staff to refer residents to the service, referrals are not able to be made by anyone else.
Care Home staff should utilise the essential documentation linked below, prior to referring to minimise any delays in the resident being reviewed following referral.
Please note for email contact or referrals residents details should only be shared via an NHS secured email address.
Address:
Bladder and Bowel Nurse Specialist – Care Homes
Strathbrock Partnership Centre
189a West Main Street
Broxburn
EH52 5LH
Tel: 01506771865
Mob: 07816257523
Email: Loth.WLBabs@nhs.scot (Please note this email address will be changing, so please check back for updates).
For more information on obtaining a secure email address please see the Secure Email Account page
Bladder and Bowel Assessment Tools for Care Home Staff
Useful Information
Continence Products & Product Ordering
Products will be ordered by the nurse specialist following assessment/ diagnosis/ treatment.
Please discuss with us directly if you do not feel that it is appropriate to assess the resident.
Product fitting guides
Product Deliveries
Products are delivered every 4 weeks, which will be changing to 8 weeks before April 2026. Unfortunately we do not have the option to change delivery dates.
No urgent orders for products can be made, as we are tied to the delivery schedule.
An anticipated home delivery list will be sent to the Care Home the week before scheduled delivery, this must be checked and returned if there are any amendments to be made by the date specified.
If there is an issue with the delivery, ie late or missing items this must be raised immediately with St Johns Stores who will seek to rectify the issue directly with the supplier.
Please copy bladder and bowel nurse into any correspondence.
St Johns Stores
Email: inco@westlothian.gov.uk
Tel: 01506 28010
Urology items
This includes catheters, leg drainage bags, night drainage bags, urosheaths, and catheter securement devices.
A 12 week supply of stock will be delivered, it is recommended to request a new delivery on week 11.
- New requests – Refer to Bladder and Bowel Nurse and if appropriate an order will be added to be delivered from pharmacy.
- Call back deliveries – Following the initial set up and delivery, these items must be requested by the care home when required, by contacting SJH Stores via e-mail or telephone call, (contact details below).
Stoma Care Service
Please note for advice and support with stoma bags, please contact:
Email: loth.stomacareservice@nhs.scot
Telephone: 0131 537 2191
Information updated October 2025 by RA and HS
For all areas of the Lothians
Education and Training
For information on Bladder and Bowel education please see our Bladder and Bowel Training page or the Education Directory where there are various courses relating to bladder and bowel aspects, including:
- Bladder Dysfunction
- Bowel Dysfunction
- Catheterisation
- Urinary Tract Infection
- Ontex online training and information hub.
*Please note*
These courses are provided by different teams; click on the titles to discover more information, including how to book and contact details.
Bowel Screening
Information coming soon
Additional resources to support good practice
- National Hydration information – Health Protection Scotland website with wide range of resources
- Skin Damage Assessment Tool
- Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) – diagnosis and treatment (poster)
- To dip or not to dip? – dipsticks do not diagnose UTI in the elderly (poster)
Updated August 2025 MG, RA & HS
