Managing urinary catheters outside the home

Do your research

If you are planning on going for a meal, a wedding or some other event where you know the venue in advance, some prior planning can help remove any uncertainties. Give them a ring and find out what their accessibility is, how many disabled parking spaces there are and where their toilets are located. Taking away the fear of the unknown will make you feel more in control and confident.

Take a “Catheter Kit”

Ensure you have the necessary supplies to make performing ISC or draining your catheter bag or valve as easy and as clean as possible whilst out and about. What you have in your kit will come down to personal preference but could include a few of your preferred catheters, a spare catheter bag or valve, hand gel, anti bac surface wipes and disposal bags.

Obtain a Radar Key

A RADAR Key (sometimes called an NKS Key) is a national scheme. It is a large, silver-coloured skeleton key that opens more than 10,000 locked, disabled toilets in the UK. The RADAR key is part of the National Key Scheme (NKS), giving thousands of people with disabilities and health conditions independent access to locked public toilets around the country. The Radar Key Scheme enables these disabled toilets to be locked to prevent vandalism and misuse, while also being readily available to those who really need them.

Over 400 local authorities in all parts of the country have adopted the scheme as well as many public, voluntary and commercial organisations such as shopping centres, pubs, cafés, department stores, country parks, railway and bus stations, airports, motorway service areas and sports venues. The Radar key scheme ensures that people who need to use accessible toilets don’t have to ask someone else to open the door for them.