Pelvic Health Physio

Overview

Update July 2024 The Pelvic Health Physiotherapy services at NBT and UHBW have seen an unprecedented rise in demand and are currently very busy. This is having an impact on waiting times. Both trusts are undertaking waiting list validation and waiting list initiatives to try and address this.

When referring to this service, please consider advising patients of current waiting times and sign-posting to the resources below for self-help strategies and advice. 

Self-referral is encouraged for women with simple pelvic health symptoms. We still welcome HCP-led referrals for patients who are unable/unlikely to refer themselves for any reason including language or cultural barriers, cognition, or mental health reasons. If you are referring a patient to this service, please check they have given consent to this.

Pelvic Health Physio is available to patients of all genders.

Services are available at NBT (Southmead & Cossham) and UHBW (BRI, St Michael's & Weston General Hospital). Please see Pelvic Health Physiotherapy Service page for details including self help information for patients.

The physios can help with a variety of conditions including:

• Continence problems (urinary and faecal),
• Pelvic pain
• Prolapse
• Menopause
• Pregnancy and post natal

Underlying pelvic pathology should be ruled out prior to referral if appropriate.

Please note that women can self refer as detailed in the referral section below. Male patients cannot self refer but can be referred by a GP or consultant.

There is also a Community Bladder and Bowel Service which may be more suitable for patients:

• Bladder & Bowel Services

Women's Pelvic Health

Women over 16 years old can be seen for the following conditions:

Perinatal patients can be seen for the following conditions 12/40 – 6 months postnatally (If over 6 months postnatal they will need to be referred to the MSK team)

All perinatal patients with Divarication of the Rectus Abdominus Muscle will need to be referred by their GP or HCP. See Divarication of Recti (Remedy BNSSG ICB) page on remedy.

Men's Pelvic Health

Male patients need to be referred by their GP or consultant. Self-referral is not yet available. See referral information below.

Male patients with Divarication of the Rectus Abdominus Muscle should be directed to the MSK physiotherapy department.

Men over 16 years old can be seen for the following conditions:

Referral

Self - Referral (Women only)

Women over 16 can self-refer to either NBT (Southmead/ Cossham) or UHBW (St Michael’s or Weston) via the self-referral form available on the Pelvic Health Physiotherapy Service page. 

Perinatal Patients

All perinatal patients (up to 6 months postpartum) with Divarication of the Rectus Abdominus Muscle will need to be referred by their GP or HCP. If over 6 months postnatal with Divarication of the Rectus Abdominus Muscle they will need to be referred to their local MSK team.

Referral (complex female patients and all men)

A health care professional led referral is required for: women unable to refer themselves, women with a complex medical history and all men

• UHBW (Bristol and Weston General Hospital ) - Send a referral letter by email to: AdultTherapies@uhbw.nhs.uk .  Referrals to UHBW are not available via eRS
• NBT - Complete a generic physio referral form (also available as an EMIS template - NBT/UHB physio referral form) and email to: physiotherapyoutpatientadmin@nbt.nhs.uk. Routine referrals to NBT can also be made via eRS.

Resources

Patient Information

Patient information, videos and leaflets are available on the 'My Joint Health Hub' website on the Pelvic Health Physiotherapy Service page. Patient information is also available in Albanian, Somalian, Polish, Arabic, Bengali, Simplified Chinese, Gujarati, Pashto Turkish, Urdu and Romanian.

To find leaflets in other languages the Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy (POGP) website which has booklets in over 100 different languages.

Patient Apps

The  CONfidence app has advice on bladder or bowel leakage.

The Squeezy app is an NHS app with advice on pelvic floor exercises (for men and women). There is a small charge for this.

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.