International Men’s Day: Renewed Call For National Conversation On Male Incontinence And Mandatory Bins In Public Toilets
- ‘Dispose with Dignity’ campaign renews calls for national conversation on incontinence taboo – urging guidance change to enable mandatory male incontinence bins in public washrooms
- Parliamentary event and open letter to Health Minister shows cross-party support for legislative provision
- Campaign’s research* showed more than half of UK men surveyed (2,036 men across ages) experience urinary incontinence
- One in 5 of this cohort of the research had some urinary incontinence symptoms as early as 18-25 years of age - contradicting the assumption that it is only experienced by older people
- A separate subgroup of 500 men who live with UI were asked about the challenges they face when using public washroom facilities; over a third (34%) of whom found it hard locating a bin to dispose of incontinence products
- For this subgroup, this translates into depression and embarrassment - with eight in 10 saying they feel anxious about leaving the house and seven in 10 saying they would be more likely to use a business if they had a bin in the male toilets.
Renewed calls are being made following International Men’s Day for regulatory changes to make male sanitary bins available in all public washrooms, after MPs at a parliamentary event signed an open letter to Will Quince MP, Minister for Health and Social Care, calling for legislative change.
It follows the launch of the Dispose with Dignity campaign earlier this year. Led by leading hygiene services provider phs Group and the country’s largest men’s health charity Prostate Cancer UK, the campaign shone a light on the scale of the male incontinence problem in the UK and called for a national conversation to tackle the taboo.
This week’s open letter, signed by Baroness Barker, Marco Longhi MP, Andrew Selous MP, James Morris MP, Justin Tomlinson MP and Kirsten Oswald MP raises concern that there is no current obligation on businesses, local councils, or employers with bathroom facilities to provide sanitary bins in male toilets.
It calls for men to have the same access to sanitary bins as those provided in female washrooms, to give them the dignity of easy, hygienic and discreet disposal of incontinence and other waste products.
The letter states that the guidance changes are relatively simple and would not be overly burdensome to businesses. They’re also changes that the campaign research showed would be welcomed by customers.
A new, dedicated male sanitary bin has been developed by phs Group and Prostate Cancer UK, with companies already pledging to provide them to their customers and staff including Moto service stations.
In February 2023, phs and Prostate Cancer UK launched a joint Binning the taboo: disposing with dignity whitepaper, which shone the light on the prevalence of urinary incontinence in the UK, showing that:
- More than half of UK men surveyed* (a cohort of 2,036 men across ages) experience urinary incontinence
- Of the 500 men (the separate subgroup surveyed) who live with UI and were asked about the challenges they face when using public washroom facilities; one in five (19%) reported having a bad day-to-day experience when out because they were rarely able to find bins of any kind in public toilets to dispose of their incontinence products
Research has further showed that prostate cancer treatment and male urinary incontinence, for some men, can go hand in hand.
Matthew Brabin, CEO of phs Group said: “Our initial campaign launch received widespread support and was an important catalyst that addressed what was, until then, a totally deafening silence on the issue of incontinence for men.
“However now we want to see the positive rhetoric, from both the public and decision-makers, translate into meaningful action.
“It was hugely positive to see the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) commit to reviewing its current guidance next summer in response to our campaign, but this must now manifest as positive and tangible change at ground-level, so that the daily hardship facing men with incontinence can be eased.”
He added: “As a business, we are proud to be unafraid to shine a light on issues others might shy away from. At its core, this campaign aims to break down barriers for men, who should be able to access the basic hygiene facilities they require to live with dignity and ease - free from stigma or embarrassment.”
Nick Ridgman, Head of Health Information & Clinical Support at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “A man living with incontinence should be able to leave the house knowing he can dispose of his pads discreetly and hygienically in a proper bin. 1 in 3 men over 65 experience urinary incontinence, but the taboo around the issue means that many of these men feel alone and embarrassed – so they don’t feel they can ask for help or demand basic facilities.
“I’m proud that together with phs, we’re beginning to smash this taboo. We’ve started a national conversation about male incontinence, and those in charge are listening.
“Since our joint Dispose with Dignity campaign earlier this year, together we’ve reached almost all MPs to tell them about the challenges men with incontinence face. Furthermore, businesses, councils, hospitals, and railway stations around the UK have already installed bins in their men’s toilets, and this is growing.
“Prostate Cancer UK won’t rest until every man with incontinence has access to a sanitary bin, and we’re so pleased to be working with phs to make this happen.”
*The research study was carried out by Censuswide, using a combined audience of 4750 people including 2,000 general consumers, 2,000 men, 500 men living with urinary incontinence and 250 partners of men living with incontinence.
Find the full Male Incontinence Dispose With Dignity Whitepaper here.
