Plymouth Pelvic Floor Service
Date issued: July 2022
For review: July 2022
Ref: D-307/AC/Colorectal/Pelvic Floor Service v2
PDF: Plymouth Pelvic Floor Service final April 2020.pdf[pdf] 192KB
The Plymouth Colorectal Pelvic Floor team provides specialist services for patients with pelvic floor problems, specifically the large bowel, and who live in Plymouth and beyond.
We are located at Derriford Hospital and aim to provide a clinically excellent service. We are a small team of five which includes two Pelvic Floor Consultants, two Nurse Specialists and Pelvic Health Specialist Physio and you may be reviewed by several members of the team. The treatment of our patients is often discussed at multidisciplinary meetings with our Uro-gynaecology and Urology colleagues, especially when surgery may be required.
Pelvic Floor problems are common in women of all ages, but also men can be affected. Symptoms may include bowel leakage or faecal incontinence, constipation, difficulty with rectal emptying and rectal prolapse. These are embarrassing conditions and people are often reluctant to seek help. We offer a full range of treatments which almost always start with conservative or non-operation measures, in accordance with National Guidelines. Conservative measures include looking at your diet, medication and lifestyle, issues which may affect your bowel. Appropriate investigations may be performed to assess the cause and severity of your pelvic floor condition.
Patients may be seen by our specialist Pelvic Health Physiotherapist for further advice and treatment. In some circumstances surgery may be an option, but this is often after exhausting all other options and not undertaken unless necessary.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/constipation
https://cks.nice.org.uk/constipation#!scenario
Advice to help with managing constipation.
NICE guidance for treating chronic diarrhoea.
https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/womens-health/what-are-pelvic-floor-exercises/
Information on pelvic floor exercises and how to do them.
https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/IBSfoodfacts.pdf
Practical help with managing IBS
