The role of the Continence Service is to provide treatment and management options for patients with bladder and bowel dysfunction.
We have a small team of specialist nurses, staff nurses and health care assistants who aim to promote the management and treatment of bladder and bowel incontinence for clients who live within the Northern Trust area.
Services are provided at locally based clinics and, where appropriate, in the service user’s own home. The main aim is to promote continence and improve quality of life.
Individualised assessments ensure appropriate patient-centred treatment or management plans with onward referrals where appropriate. Training and education is also provided to community nurses, homecare staff, GPs, service users and carers.
Treatment and management
We provide treatment and management options including:
- Pelvic floor muscle exercises
- Bladder retraining
- Lifestyle changes
- Dietary advice
- Bowel management
- Continence device provision
- Containment product provision
- Home delivery service
- Intermittent catheterisation
- Electro stimulation
- Bladder scanning
Paediatric Continence Service
We provide specialist support for children and young people experiencing bladder and bowel difficulties, including those with complex needs and children with learning or physical disabilities. Our services work closely with families, schools, and healthcare professionals to deliver tailored assessment, advice, and treatment to support continence and improve wellbeing.
Find out more about our paediatric continence services:
Where to find us
Spruce House, Braid Valley Care Complex, Cushendall Road, Ballymena, BT43 6HL
How to contact us
Continence Service
- Telephone: 028 2563 5278
Central Referral Management System
- Telephone: 028 2563 5521
How to access the service
All referrals to the Continence Service should be made through the Central Referral Management System.
Useful resources
The Continence Challenge Podcast – Helping you regain control
We have created a podcast series to help you understand the different types of bladder and bowel incontinence difficulties, such as overactive bladder, stress urinary incontinence and functional incontinence. It also looks at how good bowel management can help with incontinence overall. As continence difficulties rarely fall into one specific type, we suggest you listen to all episodes to get the most from the information provided.
You can listen to the podcast below, or search for it on your preferred podcast platform.
Podcast topics
A podcast from the Continence Service in the Northern Trust, providing listeners with a greater understanding of bladder and bowel dysfunction and education of what may be contributing to the problem and supportive measures which could be implemented to improve bladder and bowel difficulties. The series will give an introduction to the Continence Service and discuss common types of bladder and bowel incontinence difficulties, such as overactive bladder, stress urinary incontinence and functional incontinence. It will also look at how good bowel management can help with incontinence overall. The series will also feature service user stories and learn about the lived experience of someone with a bladder and/or bowel dysfunction.
This episode hears the story of a young service user with Multiple sclerosis and their lived experience of a bladder dysfunction. In a difference to the previous service user’s story, this episode presents a service user currently in the service and explores their symptoms and what might be contributing to their bladder dysfunction. We hear the strategies the service user is implementing to re-train their bladder and what other factors might be contributing to their bladder dysfunction. This episode It is supported by evidence based knowledge and guidance from the Northern Trust Continence Service staff.
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Leaflets
Decaffeination and falls prevention
Bladder tips for females
Bladder tips for males
Websites and apps
Squeezy App
Bowel & Bladder UK
Nice Guidelines
CONfidence App