Bladder and Bowel Confidence (BABCON)
The Bladder and Bowel CONfidence Health Integration Team (BABCON HIT) aims to promote bladder and bowel continence for all in Bristol and the surrounding area.
Leakage from the bladder and bowel that cannot be controlled by individuals of all ages is more widespread than is often recognised.
- In the UK, over 14 million people experience bladder control problems and 6.5 million have bowel control difficulties.
- There are more than 900,000 children with continence conditions at any time.
These are the figures that we know about but there are likely to be many more people with symptoms who do not admit it as we do not tend to talk about it. Often people live with bladder and bowel control issues as they believe nothing can be done to improve their symptoms. However, advice and education can help people to improve their symptoms, cure them or learn to live as well as they can.
BABCON plan to achieve its aims through:
- enabling people to improve their symptoms through self-help,
- improving continence services including social care, community services, and inpatient hospital care,
- promoting continence education for the public and healthcare staff,
- undertaking high quality research and innovation to drive change,
- exploring the impact of environmental factors on people with bladder and bowel symptoms,
- challenging beliefs about incontinence.
Latest news and events
19 May 2022
Bladder and bowel conditions are very common in the UK, affecting more than one in five people – and yet it is not a subject openly talked about. More common than hay fever, we know that symptoms can significantly affect everyday lives. The West of E...
6 April 2022
Collaborative research with HealthWatch Bristol found that one in three people who use bladder and bowel services had been affected by changes to these services during COVID.In the UK, over 14 million people experience bladder control problems and 6.5 mil...
6 January 2022
Bristol Health Partners congratulates Bladder and Bowel Confidence Health Integration Team (BABCON HIT) Director Nikki Cotterill, who has been made Professor of Continence Care at the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol. Nikki, a nurs...
28 October 2021
An app developed by Bristol Health Partners’ Bladder and Bowel Confidence Health Integration Team (BABCON HIT), which signposts people to find help with continence issues, has won a 2021 Nursing Times Award. The CONfidence app won in the Continence P...
23 September 2021
Bristol Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) has joined forces with Bristol’s hospital charities on an innovative programme of support to benefit thousands in the community. Above & Beyond, Southmead Hospital Charity and...
23 July 2021
A new app developed by Bristol Health Partners’ Bladder and Bowel Confidence Health Integration Team (BABCON HIT), which signposts people to find help with continence issues, has been shortlisted for a 2021 Nursing Times Award. The free CONfidence app...
20 July 2021
Leadership team Dr Nikki Cotterill, Professor Marcus Drake, Kathryn McCarthy and Professor Paul Abrams look back on what BABCON HIT achieved in 2020-21. Due to the pandemic, all services migrated to digital provision in Spring 2020 and a significant le...
21 June 2021
A new app to support people with continence issues has been launched today by Bristol Health Partners' Bladder and Bowel Confidence Health Integration Team (BABCON), UWE Bristol and associated health partners, at the beginning of World Continence Week (21...
11 May 2021
Two studies led by our Bladder and Bowel Confidence Health Integration Team (BABCON HIT) feature in the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) England’s new Nursing Research Portfolio summary – the only inclusions from the Bristol, North Somerset and South Glouc...
12 April 2021
A new project looking at the impact of changes to the services that provide care to people with bladder and bowel (continence) problems has been launched by the Bristol Health Partners BABCON Health Integration Team in collaboration with the National Inst...
8 March 2021
The Bladder and Bowel CONfidence Health Integration Team (BABCON HIT) worked together with Pelvic Health Physiotherapist Jen Pinkstone from the department of Urogynaecology & Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery at North Bristol NHS Trust, and Motion Graphics...
20 October 2020
Bristol Health Partners held its annual Health Integration Team (HIT) Conference as an entirely virtual event this year because of the pandemic. The event, “COVID-19 Call to Action: What else can we achieve in health and social care?”, took place b...
