Camarilla Group is delighted to be supporting Pelican Healthcare, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of disposable medical products in the UK and Ireland healthcare markets, and its sister company Respond Healthcare, specialists in stoma and continence care, providing a prescription dispensing service throughout the UK, with the launch of the #BeTheChange campaign.
The campaign has been developed to support a group of people living with a stoma who have joined forces and are calling for changes to be made within society.
Coming together from across South Wales, the action group has called for Wales to lead the way nationally and for Cardiff to become the capital of the UK for understanding the needs of people living with a stoma and more widely invisible illnesses. They also want Local Authorities across Wales to adjust waste collections in recognition of the issues people with a stoma face.
The action group consists of a mix of people of all ages and backgrounds from different locations across South Wales, including, Cardiff, Newport, Llanelli, Bridgend, Abergavenny and Swansea.
It has been assembled at a time when it is estimated that approximately 10,000 people across Wales live with a stoma, an opening in the abdomen that can be connected to either your digestive or urinary system to allow waste (urine or faeces) to be diverted out of your body and collected in a bag after part or all of the bowel is removed due to disease or obstruction.
However, there is a lack of understanding of the difficulties people living with a stoma face on a daily basis. With this in mind, the group, with the support of Pelican and Respond Healthcare are asking for changes to be made in daily society including, new signage to be used on all public toilets in Cardiff, and hopefully across Wales, that signifies not all chronic illnesses and health issues can be seen.
It is hoped this signage would replace the current use of a figure in a wheelchair and reflect the broad range of reasons why someone would need to use the larger, accessible toilet facilities, which transcends physical disabilities that are in plain view.
Secondly, the action group wants to tackle the inconsistencies between Local Authorities across Wales when it comes to collecting waste from the homes of people living with a stoma. Currently, only six councils in Wales address stoma waste in special absorbent hygiene collections, while the remaining 16 Local Authorities tell people to use the household bins, which are collected about every two weeks.
Camarilla is helping gain both political traction for making these changes possible and media coverage to highlight what needs to change and why.