"Continence services should give out enough pads and not make people wait or buy them."

What seems a short while ago I went to Torbay Hospital Urology to have a catheter removed. Staff are aware that in most cases like mine a person will be incontinent immediately. I was provided with a couple of tiny pads which did not last my journey home. I was told to buy some pads. A few days later I went to Newton Abbot continence clinic. Whilst the advice there was good, there was still no issue of emergency pads to last until a regular supply was delivered. I did not receive continence pads until 3 weeks later.

I know from experience that I am not being victimised or that this is an isolated case. In my experience, patients who visit the clinic and are prescribed incontinence pads, are let down by not being given enough pads there and then. If a person is incontinent they need help immediately, not in a few weeks time. Yes, this does mean keeping a stock of emergency pads at the hospitals involved, in the same way that they keep a stock of bandages etc. Patients are left to their own devices at a time when they are most vulnerable. Perhaps the Hospital manager saves a few pounds by delaying the issue of continence pads until the delivery firm arrive. Let me tell the person who decides this matter that it is not their money, but that gathered in taxes from the very people who are denied this necessary relief. As a recent politician said, "It is not fit for purpose".