Home > Adults > Gastroenterology and Colorectal Surgery >

Stoma care

Checked: 12-06-2024 by Rob Adams Next Review: 11-06-2026

Overview

Stoma care for adults

Please also see the BNSSG Adult Stoma Guidelines document on the Appliances and Part IX Local Guidelines page of the formulary.

It is recommended that all patients with a stoma have their care reviewed every 12 months, but they should be referred sooner if there are problems:

A patient is experiencing leakage or sore skin.
A patient who is very distressed or is having difficulty managing their stoma.
If a patient/DAC is ordering more than the normal maximum usage per month or prescription requests suddenly increase.
A patient is currently prescribed a non-formulary accessory where a stoma nurse has NOT previously approved the item for use.

Patients should be encouraged to telephone the stoma nurses themselves first to avoid a delay in receiving the appropriate support, using the appropriate contact numbers in the sections below.

Stoma care for children

The BNSSG Paediatric stoma care guidelines can be found on the Paediatric Joint Formulary page.

Stoma Care Team at UHBW

Please see the UHBW webpage for information about the stoma care team who cover queries for BRI and Weston. patients

Stoma Care Team - Telephone: 0117 342 7638/7

Stoma Care Team at NBT

Please see the NBT webpage for information about the colorectal nurses and stoma care team:

Stoma Care Team - Telephone: 0117 414 0270

Prescribing in patients with stoma

The BNF has information about prescribing considerations in patients with a stoma.

Local formulary guidelines for adults and children are also available via the links in the Overview section above.

Resources

Colostomy UK - A UK charity supporting people with a stoma

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.