Poo Collection Made Easy
Collecting poo even gets into the daily news!
A recent article in the Daily Mail addressed the tricky subject of how many patients find collecting faecal samples difficult and distasteful. Dr Cliodna McNulty, Head of the Primary Care Unit at Public Health England, explained why it’s so important.
“Poo is a very important material for doctors as it can be used to test for a wide range of diseases and conditions – including Salmonella, E.coli, Campylobacter, and bowel cancer, to name a few. Although most people think of poo as being disgusting, it does have its uses and is the main way that doctors can test for gastro-intestinal infections and other bowel conditions like cancer. Lack of a sample can hinder diagnosis and so we need to encourage people to submit samples when they are asked to do so.”
Research on the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England shows that participants who performed the collections at home, sent in their test and went to subsequent appointments were more likely to be diagnosed at an earlier stage than those diagnosed from their symptoms.
However, uptake in the NHS BCSP is lower than Public Health England would like, believed to be due in large part to patients’ aversions to collecting poo samples.
Fe-Col® is a very simple yet clever product which makes collecting faecal samples much easier. The simple paper loop is slipped over the toilet seat to catch the sample when the toilet is used as normal. It will hold the sample to enable filling of a collection pot or sampling with an applicator or user-friendly hygienic specimen collection device such as the CALEX Valve or the “picker” used for the HM-JACKarc. Once completed, the Fe-Col can be torn at the sides and flushed away, leaving no mess and nothing to put in the waste bin. It also protects the sample from contamination by toilet water or cleaning materials. This ensures that the testing laboratory receives a truly representative sample, free of any substances that could interfere with assay results.
