A simple device which can save stoma bag wearers from the intense embarrassment of waste leakage is to launch in the US next month.
ConfiPlus Stoma Pockets were invented by Anne Inch from South Lanarkshire in Scotland. She is an ostomate herself, with firsthand knowledge of how devastating leakage can be after both she and her late husband Iain, who also had a stoma, suffered leakage on a regular basis.
Stoma bags are used to treat and manage a range of medical conditions including several cancers, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis and Diverticular Disease. They can also be used as a lifesaving procedure following Sepsis. ConfiPlus stoma pockets work by containing leakage, absorbing output and drawing waste away from the skin, allowing people time to change their bag in a dignified manner, without soiling their clothes.
It’s estimated that more than 200,000 people in the UK use stoma bags or ostomy pouches and 1 million in the US, with numbers increasing by around 10% year on year. An ostomy is a medical procedure where an artificial opening is created in the body to allow waste to exit. That waste is then collected in a bag which users must empty and change regularly.
Figures from Coloplast, the world’s largest supplier of stoma bags and ostomy products, found that 92% of people living with a stoma worry about leakage and 76% experience leakage at least once a month.
Anne recalls the day she created the device, when her husband was more concerned about leakage from his stoma than devastating news he’d just been given by doctors:
“My husband, Iain, had an ileostomy and was in hospital. He was very, very embarrassed while he was in the hospital, because it was just leak after leak. One day he had had a heart scan, and the consultant had come in to let him know that there wasn’t anything more they could do for him. He turned to me and said, ‘I think I’ve got a leak’ and I just couldn’t believe it. I thought, this is all this man’s worried about, he’s just been told that’s it and this leak was his biggest concern.
“I’m a seamstress, so I came home, and I devised something, and I took it up to him, and it worked. Then other people in the ward asked if I could make it for them.”
Stoma bag leaks cost the NHS significant time and money, with some estimates suggesting the total NHS spend on laundry and linen services alone could be in the range of hundreds of millions of pounds annually across the entire system. For in-patients, changing a soiled bed is a 38-step process that can happen multiple times in a day while an operation must be halted to sterilise the area and equipment.
The company Anne subsequently created, Confidence Plus, won this year’s Scottish Edge award, Scotland’s biggest business funding competition. The product, which is manufactured and sold in the UK, will now start international distribution, launching in the USA next month.
Lisa Crombie, managing director of Confidence Plus Ltd, said:
“Approximately 1 million people in the United States live with ostomies and an estimated 100,000 new ostomy surgeries are performed each year in the USA alone. We’ve had interest in our product from all over the world, so launching in the US is an important first step.
“Dignity should not come at a cost, and we want to see ConfiPlus added to the national prescription list in the UK soon. In the US, we will be looking to be available on Medicare and insurance plans.
We’ve spoken to thousands of people over the last few years, and everyone has experienced a stoma bag leak at some point. It is possible though to rebuild confidence after ostomy surgery and lead a busy and sociable life. Ensuring devices like ConfiPlus are used widely will give back control to stoma bag users, save significant money for the NHS, reduce nurse intervention and free up hospital beds.”
The team have been doing extensive work to meet and understand the needs of the US market and have been encouraged by how positively their simple innovation is being received by healthcare professionals in particular.
Certified Wound Ostomy Continence Nurse, Debra Wrigh, President of Collier County Ostomy Support Group in Florida, said:
“It’s great to see new products that give ostomates options. Having seen it, I love the concept, and have no doubt that it will be well received here in America. It will help many people, and it’s a really exciting development.”
ConfiPlus, currently being trialled by a distributor for NHS England, but can be bought online via https://confiplus.com
