Urinary Tract Infections

(asked on 5th July 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve the testing regimes for urinary tract infections.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 12th July 2017

I hold responsibility for urological conditions.

Officials from the Department are aware that Whittington Trust is instigating a new multidisciplinary team at Whittington Health for the Lower Urinary Tract Service, as recommended by the Royal College of Physicians report and advised by NHS England and NHS Improvement. The first reconstituted multidisciplinary team will meet in July. Local commissioners will be members of the multidisciplinary team to support the review of people suffering with chronic urinary tract infections and ensuring that they receive appropriate treatment. New patients will be accepted into the clinic on a phased approach and with the agreement of local commissioners that there is a functioning multidisciplinary team in place. Ministers will be briefed accordingly.

The Trust has worked with clinicians to develop a pathway for the treatment of children with lower urinary tract infections, who should now be referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (the local tertiary service for children). All patients that suspect they have urinary tract infection should see their general practitioner (GP) who will be able to provide medical advice, set out a treatment plan and if appropriate refer to a secondary provider. Patients who are not able to be referred to the Lower Urinary Tract Service clinic should continue to seek support from their GPs.

The National Institute for Health Research has previously and is currently funding a number of research projects on the testing and treatment of urinary tract infections.

The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research, is funding the PRINCESS and ALTAR studies and will receive any publications resulting from the work. Both projects are ongoing and the Department looks forward to seeing the results when they are completed.

Data on the number of people diagnosed with urinary tract infections is not collected centrally.

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