A national health disservice?

Designing a catheter that could be retained in the bladder for continuous drainage has presented, and still presents, a major challenge. Urinary tract infections account for more than 30% of all healthcare-associated infections and of these, about 70% are related to the use of the catheter. The first reliable indwelling urinary catheter was designed by American urologist Dr Frederic Foley, who developed the hemostatic bag catheter to provide simultaneous drainage of the bladder and hemostasis following transurethral resection of the prostate. Unfortunately, long-term catheterization (LTC) of the bladder with Foley's design is associated with high morbidity from catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). The modern catheter should be securely retained to drain the bladder without injury to the urothelial lining allow the bladder to fill and empty completely and include an automatic or remote mechanism for intermittent drainage of the bladder.