Bladder Health UK partnered with many other organisations to create this informative and powerful report on not only the current poor state of pelvic floor services but also recommendations on how they can be improved.

Please read on to find out about the award and to see what the judges said about it.

Dear Pelvic Floor Report authors

I hope this email finds you well. Charles and I would like to share some good news and recognition for the hard work you were involved in with the creation of the Pelvic Floor Report.

With Charles’ support we entered the report into the Communique Awards for Healthcare Communications and Medical Education. These are Awards for communications teams at PR and public affairs agencies, pharmaceutical and medtech companies and health charities. They recognise the best work of the year and are really tough to win (in a 20-year career I have only been involved in 6 Award wins for campaigns/projects – and have entered a lot!).

We are delighted to report that the Pelvic Floor Report was given a High Commendation in the category of Excellence in Healthcare Partnerships. They only award a High Commendation when the judges are split on who should win and have to decide a winner and runner up – most categories only have a winner. It shows that we were a whisker away from winning outright and should be proud to be one of the top two healthcare partnerships of the last year.

If you’d like to read about the Awards and in particular what they said about the report then click here.

Best wishes

Jon and Charles

Jon Pike

Director, Mearns & Pike Limited

Summary of work

COVID-19 has had an impact on surgeries across the board with most patients facing long delays. However, even before the pandemic, patients with pelvic floor disorders were subjected to significant waiting times for treatment, causing distress and desperation.

Addressing the barriers to pelvic floor surgery was essential to ensure that these conditions were not forgotten in post-pandemic recovery plans. The emphasis on reset and recovery across the whole NHS presented an opportunity to bring together the right partners to influence truly transformational change that would see patients living with pelvic floor disorders finally receive the care they deserve.

A panel of 35 experts and patient group representatives came together to highlight the need for greater focus on pelvic floor disorders and shine a light on examples where change was happening in the NHS to improve access to surgery. Our report created a loud and united call for change in national policy and action at a local level. Endorsed by 12 professional organisations and patient groups, the report and publicity has influenced policy, been a catalyst for change at a local level and rates of pelvic floor surgery have increased by nearly 40%