Meredith Gresham returns to chat with A/Prof Colm Cunningham in our very first episode for 2022.  

In today’s episode, Colm and Meredith talk about toilets. Since continence is a major issue in residential and home care, they discuss strategies and tips on how best to provide accessible and hygienic care. 

Meredith’s last episode on the podcast, Talking Design: Why it can ‘provoke’ behaviour touched on design principles and once again they discuss simple and effective ways to aid a person with dementia this time focusing on the process during toileting.  

Often the role of a carer in toileting is a difficult one to manage and Meredith offers a potential look at an alternative method in relation to bidets. They discuss the use of bidets in a care setting and the surprisingly positive and rapid uptake and acceptance by residents and carers.

In addition, Meredith outlines potentially other advantages of the bidet, such as a more hygienic and comfortable experience for the person using the toilet, which in turn may aid continence.  

For more about accessibility in toilet design we’d love for you to have a look at our free Toilet Talk resource.