Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of inappropriate referrals to hospital settings for bladder and bowel problems in children and young people aged 19 and under.

Whenever possible, children and young people with bladder and bowel problems should be able to access community based assessment and treatment services.

In November 2015, NHS England published the Commissioning Framework for Continence Services Excellence in Continence Care which covers children and adults and outlines a pathway including assessment, diagnosis and treatment to recovery where possible. The framework sets out a number of principles for a good design of service including integration across primary, secondary and tertiary services, health, education and social care.

The framework references the Paediatric Continence Commissioning Guide (Paediatric Continence Forum, September 2014) which provides a specification for paediatric continence services and in particular community based services.