Lisa Smith
Children’s Continence Nurse
Lisa hails from the UK with experience at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Unit at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where set up and ran the nurse led Paediatric Asthma Specialist Nurse service for six years before securing a ole as an Associate Lecturer at Dundee University
She emigrated to New Zealand with her husband Nigel and adopted son Aaron in 2004. Lisa began work in the children’s ward at Hastings Hospital. She quickly realised there was a huge gap in support for children and families with severe constipation and soiling. A child was being admitted every week to the ward for a bowel clearout with no close follow up afterwards. Subsequently, many of them were readmitted again within the year.
Over the next year Lisa researched the problem of chronic constipation in children and developed a similar model to running a nurse-led asthma clinic.
“I researched and presented a proposal to the management team about setting up a nurse-led bowel management service and 17 years later I have expanded and extended the practice to include all continence issues in children.”
“My mantra has always been “turning bad into good” after the many hurdles I have encountered supporting my son, Aaron, who was diagnosed with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The experience of managing my child’s challenging behaviours have helped me in my role as a Children’s Continence Nurse. There is nothing more satisfying than when a child comes to my clinic and says, ‘Mr Poo is a happy poo and comes out in the toilet every day’. Hearing that is something that I will never get tired of hearing.”