Pelvic Floor Service

The Pelvic Floor Clinic may be either by a telephone consultation or face to face consultation.

You may have been referred to the nurse led pelvic floor service due to bowel symptoms. These symptoms may include:

• Faecal soiling or incontinence
• Faecal urgency
• Constipation
• Obstructive defaecation symptoms
• Anal fissure
• Rectal prolapse
   

The Colorectal Nurse Specialist will perform an initial assessment to obtain a detailed assessment of your bowel symptoms, general health, diet, lifestyle and any other factors that may influence your bowel function. You may be asked to complete a Bowel Diary and Quality of Life Questionnaire as part of this assessment.

Referral to Specialist Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy may be arranged. Further tests to investigate the cause of your problems may be required. These may include:

• Transanal Ultrasound
• Anorectal manometry
• Sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy
• Examination under anaesthetic
• Video proctography (Referral to Paisley will be required as unfortunately service not available in Tayside)
• Dynamic MRI (Not available in Tayside)
• Transit Studies

Following your assessment an individualised treatment programme will be agreed. Surgical intervention may not be required in many conditions and often significant improvement and control of your symptoms can be achieved by conservative measures such as dietary advice, exercise, medication, use of rectal irrigation equipment and the use of anal plugs. The Colorectal Nurse Specialist will help to advise and support you both during and following these interventions.