A national benchmark for the initial assessment of men with LUTS: data from the 2010 Royal College of Physicians National Audit of Continence Care

Objective

To assess the degree of adherence to the current National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on the management of urinary incontinence (UI) in men.

Design

Retrospective survey of male patients with UI in primary and acute hospital (AH) care as part of a national audit.

Setting

NHS AH and primary care (PC) trusts.

Sample

Twenty-five men <65 years old and 25 men ≥65 years old from each participating site.

Methods

All NHS trusts in England, Wales Northern Ireland and Channel Islands were eligible to participate. A web-based data collection form aligned to the NICE guidelines was constructed for the study. All data submitted to the audit were anonymous, and access to the web tool was password protected for confidentiality.

Results

Data were returned by 80 % (128/161) of acute trusts and 52 % (75/144) of PC trusts in England, and 71 % (10/14) of combined trusts from Northern Ireland, Wales and the Channel Islands including data on 559 men <65 and 1271 65+ from 141 sites within acute hospitals and 445 men <65 and 826 men 65+ in PC, a total of 3101 participants.

Conclusion

The majority of men seen within the NHS with LUTS do not receive management according to evidence-informed NICE guidelines; in general, older men are less likely to receive care that meets guideline standards than younger men.