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One trust's rationale for choosing a lubrication gel for use in catheterisation

08 October 2020
Product Focus
02 October 2020
Volume 29 · Issue 18

Abstract

Current NHS policy is to reduce the number of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). To achieve this, guidance suggests reducing the use of catheterisation as much as possible. For those patients requiring catheterisation, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) ensured that a medicinal anaesthetic, antiseptic lubricant containing chlorhexidine and lidocaine was used for all catheterisations. Between 2011 and 2018 the Trust reduced CAUTIs by around 50%. This article discusses catheterisation, national policy in reducing CAUTIs, and how NNUH achieved this reduction.

Patient safety should be at the heart of all healthcare, including protecting patients from catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). Over the past decade, the NHS has been working to reduce CAUTIs. The main thrust of this has been the ‘no catheter equals no CAUTI’ approach (NHS England and NHS Improvement, 2018; Trueland, 2019). But there will always be patients who require a urinary catheter (Royal College of Nursing (RCN), 2019). How are they to be kept safe from CAUTIs?

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) took a different approach. The Trust took the decision to ensure that the catheter gel used by staff when catheterising patients provided as much protection as possible against CAUTIs.

This article outlines the policies relating to catheterisation that have been published over the past 15 years or so, and the emphasis on reducing CAUTIs. It also discusses why the right catheter gel is so important in urethral catheterisation, and why the NNUH chose one particular gel.

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Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
CAUTIs
Urology
Catheterisation
Catheter lubricant gel