Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance and information is available to (a) NHS healthcare workers, (b) patients and (c) carers of patients who regularly suffer from urinary-tract infections.

Guidance aimed at healthcare staff, patients, carers and the public on the care and treatment of people with urinary tract infections (UTIs) is available from a number of sources. These include the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which published a quality standard on the treatment of Urinary tract infections in adults in June 2015. This is part of a suite of materials which includes a quality standard on Urinary tract infections in infants, children and young people under 16 and information for the public. In addition to describing the NICE quality standard, The information for the public provides links to other information sources such as NHS Choices and The Bladder and Bowel Foundation. These resources are available at https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs90

Materials specifically for primary care include the Public Health England (PHE) primary care antibiotic guidance which was updated in June 2015. It provides advice on the treatment of uncomplicated UTIs and on antibiotic choice. It also has advice on treating those with recurrent UTIs. It is available via the PHE and Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) TARGET (Treat Antibiotics Responsibly, Guidance, Education, Tools) Antibiotics Toolkit website. Clinical commissioning groups are able to use this guidance to develop local versions.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-common-infections-guidance-for-primary-care

PHE has also developed guidance on diagnosis of UTIs, which is being reviewed this year. This is also available via the PHE or RCGP TARGET website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/urinary-tract-infection-diagnosis

In addition, the TARGET Antibiotics Toolkit, available on the RCGP website, includes a presentation for primary care staff, and an online course on managing urinary symptoms. These are available at:

http://www.rcgp.org.uk/clinical-and-research/target-antibiotics-toolkit.aspx