Children and Young People’s Continence Team

The Children and Young People’s Continence Team (CYPCT) West Sussex and Brighton and Hove are a community-based, nurse-led, specialist paediatric continence service (Tier 2). The team is comprised of Registered Nurses and Associate Practitioners with specialist knowledge of children and young people’s continence; covering constipation, soiling, day wetting and night wetting (enuresis). Toilet skills for children and young people with additional needs in West Sussex are currently supported by this service, with the aim to make this available in Brighton and Hove in the future.

Healthy Bladder and Bowels (Tier 1)

Healthy bladder and bowels is the first level of continence intervention for children and young people. This can be delivered by various healthcare professionals including GPs, or provided by the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) - Health Visitors and School Nurses (0-19 Service). Early intervention information and advice to help promote healthy bladders and bowels reduces the risk of longer term problems such as ongoing constipation and wetting. Tier 1 interventions might include accessing and implementing:

• Toileting advice
• Fluid and diet advice
• Advice for day wetting
• Advice for night wetting
• Advice on recognising and managing constipation
• Signposting to online resources
• Signposting for additional support interventions.

The child/young person should be reviewed at least once, to ensure that Tier 1 treatment and lifestyle changes have had time to be embedded, over the previous months. If the continence issues remain with no improvement made, a referral can then be made to the Children and Young People’s Continence Team (CYPCT).

Targeted Education Pathways (Tier 2)

The Children and Young People’s Continence Team (CYPCT) West Sussex and Brighton and Hove is the second level of intervention for Children and Young People with ongoing continence issues (bladder and bowel dysfunction) and is a specialist, clinic-based, nurse-led service.

We are skilled in the specialist assessment and management of children and young people with bladder and bowel issues and offer targeted education pathways, with a combination of both face-to-face and telephone appointments, that provide education about healthy bladder and bowels so that children and young people and their families become experts in managing their condition. We support children and young people and their families to implement the necessary interventions they need when working towards improving or achieving continence. We work closely with a wide variety of health, education and social care professionals.

At the initial appointment, a comprehensive bladder and bowel assessment will be undertaken by a healthcare professional. This will inform the creation of an individual care plan and treatment recommendations to meet their needs. This may include the recommendation of medication which could be prescribed by a Nurse Prescriber, Paediatrician or GP. If indicated for day time and night time wetting, an ultrasound bladder scan will be undertaken to establish if the bladder is emptying fully.

When further specialist intervention is required, this nurse-led service will refer to an appropriate hospital with children and young people’s doctors who specialise in bladder and bowel dysfunction.