Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains the policy of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence that intermittent self-catheterisation is the gold standard approach to safe and effective catheterisation.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops guidelines for the National Health Service that are based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and are developed through engagement with stakeholders, including public consultation. NICE guidelines describe best practice and healthcare professionals are expected to take them fully into account, but they do not override clinical judgement.

NICE has not published any specific guidance on self-catheterisation. It has published a number of guidelines that refer to catheterisation, including a guideline on healthcare-associated infections: prevention and control in primary and community care published in 2012.