Catheter Care

[juneo]

Can anyone give me some advice,my Caree has been fitted with a permanent catheter & i have been given no advice at all , i know the D/N are supposed to come & give follow up after care at home but up to yet they have not been , as he has not been refferred either by Hospital or GP,does anyone know how often its supposed to be checked , its been in place 8 weeks so far , i should say my Caree is a 95yr old Gent & im at a loss with it all

Many thanks Juneo

[susieq]

Personally I've no idea June, but would think that 8 weeks is a long time for it not to have been checked. Best advice I can give you is to say ring his GP practice and either speak to his Doctor or to the Practice Nurse (in my experience the nurses usually get things moving faster than the GP does !!)

[JohnT]

My wife has a catheter fitted and the DN's come out to change it usually every 12 weeks though sometimes it becomes blocked and bypasses before the next change and sometimes it has been known to come out completely.I and the carers keep a close eye on her urine output etc as shes diabetic and occasionally shes suseptable to Urine infections which the GP has to prescribe Antibiotics for.Apart from that theres not much else i can tell you about catheter care.Its best to change the leg bag at least twice per week and if a night bag is used that also needs changing twice per week and our carers flush that one out every day.If you are at all concerned about your Caree then get in touch with your GP and express your concerns and ask for a visit from the DN.

[juneo]

Thank you for replies, really grateful , I have phoned Gp & its arranged D/N will visit today ,he had blood in urine on Saturday , got him to drink more water & at least they will check it out , such a worry when u dont know what your doing , once again thank you, Juneo

[no1mum]

June, please let us know how you get on. x x

[bowlingbun]

I'm interested to see that John's advice has been that the night bag is changed twice a week, when mum's is changed once a week, and often then they forget!

[Violet]

I'm wondering who fitted the catheter and did they say when it should be replaced?

My husband had a catheter fitted approx five months ago. All I was shown was how to empty the leg bag several times a day - the rest I had to figure out for myself. What I have learned is:

The catheter needs to be replaced every three months by a qualified nurse. If there are problems such as blockage/urine not flowing through to leg bag, or if the catheter comes out, you must contact district nurse or emergency medical such as out of hours service.

The leg bag is attached to the tube from the catheter - leg bag needs to be changed after 5 - 7 days or sooner if there are problems.

The night bag gets attached to the tube from the leg bag, leaving the valve open so that urine can flow through leg bag into night bag. The night bag has capacity up to 2 litres so doesn't need emptying during the night. In the morning detach the night bag, remembering to close the valve on the leg bag! The night bag gets used only once so after emptying urine into toilet dispose of night bag in bin and use a new one next night.

I am hoping that visit by District Nurse will reassure you and that you will soon become familiar with it all - it is a bit daunting at first.

Let us know how you get on

[JHR57]

My Dad had a catheter fitted 10 years ago when he came out of hospital post stroke (his bladder was on the affected stroke side and had stopped working properly) all was fine until last July when it just kept blocking and they changed it to a super pubic one (went through his tummy rather than the obvious place) Both were checked by the District Nurses every 8 weeks and they usually changed it at this time even if it was OK just to avoid UTI's. Must admit tho' my experience of catheters and carees usually meant frequent UTI's and like previous advice myself and the carers kept a very vigilant eye on the colour of Dads urine. We could always tell by the colour if he wasn't drinking enough and this was almost always followed by yet another UTI. Never thought I'd hear myself saying I missed that dratted catheter but since he passed this July I really have

[juneo]

Well the D/N came ,she said they should have been before , which should have been sorted out on Dads discharge & it never was , Dads fittings & emptying procedure is the same as Wifeys , no washing out of night bags , they are thrown away after being emptied , new one each night, she will be back in about 2 weeks to replace a new catheter & this will be done Approx every 12 weeks,they left their list of phone numbers just in case anything goes awry.

Thanks everyone , at last i know whats what now , Juneo x

[no1mum]

Glad you managed to get some info June. x x