Continence Care

Policy

This policy outlines strategies that schools can adopt to support students needing continence care to attend school.

Summary

• Schools must support students requiring continence care.
• It is recommended that schools develop a Student Health Support Plan which details family and school staff roles and responsibilities for students requiring continence care.
• To inform the Student Health Support Plan, schools should request that the student’s medical/health practitioner complete a Toileting, Hygiene and Menstrual Health Management — Medical Advice Form.

Details

Schools must support students requiring continence care.

This policy does not cover young children for whom continence care is related to their age and level of development.

A range of strategies and actions are available to schools to support students with continence care are outlined below.

Strategies and actions schools may adopt

General

In general, children should be allowed to go to the toilet when they need to go or when a medical need has been identified.

Request advice

Schools should encourage parents or carers to seek professional advice on causes or management of persistent continence issues in cases where advice has not yet been sought.

Develop a plan

It is recommended that schools develop a Health Support Plan which details family and school staff roles and responsibilities.

To inform this plan, schools should request that the student’s medical/health practitioner completes a Personal Care Medical Advice Form — Incontinence.

Where appropriate, schools can use a Personal Hygiene Learning Plan to involve students in step-by-step toileting processes to:

• self-manage toileting tasks, if possible
• track students progression as it relates to toileting and personal care

Provide equipment

If it is a reasonable adjustment that the student requires, schools should provide equipment to support continence care, such as hoists and slings.

Definitions

Incontinence
Incontinence is the lack of control over bowel or bladder functions and can be caused by:

• medical conditions such as gastroenteritis, causing short term incontinence
• lack of bowel nerve function, causing long term incontinence
• constipation, causing faecal soiling
• bladder over-activity, causing day wetting
• medical intervention, such as a side effect of medication
• development delay or physical and intellectual disability
• life experience such as behaviour associated with a history of abuse
• lack of learning opportunity

Related policies

• Health Care Needs
• Infectious Diseases
• Personal Hygiene

Guidance

There is no further guidance for this topic. For more information, refer to Resources tab.

Resources

Templates and forms

• Student Health Support Plan (Word) — schools should use this document to detail the family and school staff roles and responsibilities for students requiring continence care

• Toileting, Hygiene and Menstrual Health Management – Medical Advice Form (Word) — a document that the student’s medical/ health practitioner completes and that informs the student’s Health Support Plan

• Toileting care and learning plan (Word) — schools may choose to use this plan as a suggestion, to maximise opportunities for students to self-manage components of their personal care support, as far as possible, in relation to toileting, and to acknowledge the learning that has occurred when success is achieved

Useful websites

• Incontinence and continence problems — information from the Better Health Channel

• Incontinence and continence: children and teenagers — information and resources for parents and schools from the Continence Foundation of Australia