GRAMPIANS Regional Continence Service has made clear its multidisciplinary team remains on hand to work with the community even though its shopfront has closed.
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The service will host a community forum in Lederman Hall at the Queen Elizabeth Centre on Friday afternoon to help clear up provider issues sparked by transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
This follows widespread community concern about sourcing incontinence product under the statewide equipment program.
Grampians continence nurse consultant Shirley Whitaker said the NDIS had been a catalyst for the store closure, but this was a model that had been gradually changing for a long time.
“The continence resource centre initially opened because items like pads were not sold in chemists or supermarkets, but 20 years later things have changed, demand is greater, and there is that opportunity to pick them up anytime now,” Ms Whitaker said.
“The service itself is not closing. Our multidisciplinary team is continuing, we still have in formation and always give out samples – this will all continue exactly the same.”
Ms Whitaker said under the NDIS, the shop was unable to be a provider for scripted products but the service could offer product advice. She said there was also flexibility in the statewide equipment program on regularity in delivery, rather than bulk posts some clients had been concerned about.
Bladder and bowel leakage affects 4.8 million Australians. Most were aged under 50 years old and 74 per cent of those with leakage would prefer to live with it rather than seek help from a professional, according to Continence Foundation of Australia.
The Grampians service stretches from Bacchus Marsh to the South Australian border and includes outreach posts in towns like Ararat and Hepburn.
Ms Whitaker said the community program at the QEC, which is part of Ballarat Health Services, works with children experiencing bed-wetting through to adults going to the toilet more than twice a night or going more than three days between bowel movement.
Grampians Regional Continence forum will feature representatives from BHS, NDIS, statewide equipment program and continence nurses. It is in Lederman Hall at the QEC, Ascot Street South, on Friday 3-5pm.