Do you live in London and think you have a UTI? Would you like to try a fast-tracked test & treat service? Sign up here to try the Dip UTI smartphone-powered test

[JustineBMumsnet]

Dip UTI has asked us to find some more Mumsnet users in London who currently suspect they have a UTI to try out their home testing kits and report back on Mumsnet via a private thread. We’re also looking for a handful of users who would be willing to take part in a video interview about their experience following the testing period.

Here’s what Dip UTI has to say: “Dip UTI allows you to test for a UTI with your smartphone, receive clinical-grade results in minutes and access prescription-only medication at the pharmacy, without seeing a GP, if your results and symptoms indicate a UTI.”

And here’s what a Mumsnet tester from the previous test had to say: “The app takes you through every step, and the whole process takes about 5 minutes. My test was negative so I didn't have to get any treatment. I'd definitely buy it if I suspect a UTI - it's quick and convenient, without the (lengthy) wait for a doctors appointment.”

We’re aware that if you’re signing up to this test you’ll be looking for a test and treatment ASAP, so we’ll be checking in on sign ups daily. If you sign up by 1pm (Monday to Friday) and you’re selected to take part you’ll receive a kit same day.

If you’re selected, you’ll be sent a Dip UTI home testing kit via courier and a £15 Boots voucher, which you can use to purchase medication to treat your UTI should you need to. As a part of the test you’ll need to download the Dip UTI app to use alongside the test kit. After you’ve completed the test we’ll ask for you to give your feedback on a private thread on Mumsnet.

If you’re interested in taking part, please sign up here.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

*Please note the Dip UTI kit isn’t suitable for you if you’re pregnant, have diabetes or have a catheter.

[mrsshardlake]

Is it suitable for children?

[MozzchopsThirty]

Oh I would love this, shame I'm not in London

[Lushers]

I work in London and get UTIs a lot! Felt one brewing recently but think it's going...

[naughtymutha]

I tried this. Ordered on boots website and results said I had some blood. Then went to gp with another sample which was sent to lab and came back normal.

Loved the idea of it but conflicted by results.

[JustineBMumsnet]

Hi @mrsshardlake - we're afraid not, this service is suitable for women aged 16 to 65

@MozzchopsThirty - apologies that you're not able to take part! We're looking for testers in London only due to the ability to deliver kits to them quickly, but the kit is available more widely in Boots stores.

[MozzchopsThirty]

@JustineBMumsnet yes I understand

I hope they do something similar in wales
I've had so many UTIs and am also a nurse and just can't understand all the barriers put in place until you're peeing blood and dying with pain!

[Tellingitlikeitisnt]

@MozzchopsThirty if you are a nurse then you surely fully understand why antibiotics are not given out freely to anyone who even vaguely suspects a UTI?

[Tellingitlikeitisnt]

Current UK guidance is not to dip or test urine if symptoms in appropriate patients (such as being offered to here) give symptoms suggestive of a lower urinary tract infection.
The guidance advises practitioners to offer first line antibiotics on the prescience of symptoms alone.

[MozzchopsThirty]

@Tellingitlikeitisnt of course but I'm also a 44 year old woman who knows a UTI when it arrives, I don't understand having to jump through so many hoops before I'm given medication

The fact that I'm sensible and nurse educated means I wouldn't be asking if I didn't need them

[Divebar]

I think when you suffer with them regularly you get very proficient at treating yourself ( bicarb, drinking loads etc ). If it continues despite that enough to warrant a doctors appointment then I know I’m going to need antibiotics. I even know what antibiotics I need. That’s assuming it’s not a kidney infection...those make cystitis look like amateur hour.

[Tricicorn]

Apart from microscopy of a fresh sample, tests for UTI miss many infections. The dipstick test along with lab cultures are not fit for purpose and too many women are left untreated and develop chronic infection which blights their life.

The most reliable guide as to whether a woman has a uti is herself. Too many times tests prove negative leaving women untreated and suffering unnecessarily.

New tests and apps find bacteria which is present in normal bladders and go on to attribute these as causes where they are in fact entirely normal.

Beware home kits and apps. They are rarely based on good science and all too often are founded around wishful thinking and assumption.

We deserve better and hopefully the current best practice regarding tests and treatment will be adopted throughout the Nhs. We deserve better than outdated inaccurate testing and smartphone apps.

[Fredastaireatemyjamsandwich]

I live in London. I would like to test this as I suspect I may have one, and no appts at my doctors for 2 weeks. Thank you.

[GEEpEe]

www.google.com/shopping/product/1?q=urine+test+strips+leukocytes&client=ms-android-samsung-gj-rev1&sa=X&biw=412&bih=734&tbs=vw:l,ss:44&prmd=isnv&prds=num:1,of:1,epd:3461589128093117691,paur:ClkAsKraXwOLboAuqupkQhhfGLxkGHNak67OY2r9mYL4xp_x2VAH4aQO1rawVAuyY8XE341L8_dse8Im1fL7mo2PnXzLmyevKnYEa0ubP8g-8P7spi_2VgloTBIZAFPVH713AYHghdO8Ooov3QKKEI4_pHeabQ,prmr:1,pid:3461589128093117691,cs:1&ved=0ahUKEwj9wJjs0qbnAhWtTxUIHRJXAYQQgjYI0QQ

You could buy some of these strips. If your urine is positive for blood, nitrates, protein or leucocytes on a dipstick, the chance of you having an ongoing UTI is moderate to high. Then you could report your test to the GP with a sample and the strip and that should be enough for them to do a lab test (with a bit of insistence) if not prescribe antibiotics as well (I would but maybe I'm a shit GP).

[Jillyhilly]

@MozzchopsThirty did you see the article in the Guardian and more recently the Mail, about the way in which the current protocol for testing and testing UTIs is woefully inadequate, resulting in more and more women ending up in hospital with UTIs due to GPs reluctance to treat with antibiotics? And that the current short course treatment is possibly doing more harm than good by under-treating and resulting in recurrent and resistant strains.

I suffer with these bastards myself and I’m trying to find out everything I can about treatment.

[Jillyhilly]

Interesting quote from a French doctor in one of those articles somewhere (I’ll try to find it) about how different the treatment is in France and that when it comes to chronic UTIs “we go hard and we go long” with antibiotic treatment. That is also the treatment given by some of the leading specialists in this country. I mean what’s the point of not doing that if women are ending up in hospital on IV antibiotics anyway as a result of not being treated effectively?

And yes @Tricicorn is right, the testing is often completely inaccurate and inadequate, also resulting in women suffering needlessly or being told that they don’t have an infection when they very obviously do!

There’s lots of this information on CUTIC, Chronic Urinary Tract Infection Campaign.

[MozzchopsThirty]

@Jillyhilly no I didn't, can you link please

I saw a different GP this week and he has given me a 'just in case' prescription, and once I've used it I can get another
So I'm really pleased with that
No more waiting all day in agony whilst they fanny around

[Jillyhilly]

Exactly @MozzchopsThirty, it’s the bloody waiting around in agony for a day or two for them to tell you exactly what you already know! It’s not acceptable, it’s not good enough and it needs to change. I’ve been prescribed “just in case” antibiotics before and I’d say that all women who suffer with this condition should have them because apart from anything else it really reduces the mental torture and stress and panic of feeling an attack coming on and knowing that it’ll be hours if not days before you can get relief.

If you go to //www.cutic.co.uk and click on the Join Our Campaign link, both articles are linked there.

[Jillyhilly]

That doesn’t work, try this www.cutic.co.uk/our-campaign/take-action/

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

My poor mother suffers these. Dip sticks are an insult. In fact they caused her to be left unnecessarily as always come back clear and so she is untreated and they progress to kidney infections. I’m taking peeing dark blood.

She knows herself when she needs AB but there is now a lot of resistance.

By the way, for anyone reading this with recurrent bastard UTIs, she has had real success by (1) herbal buku leaf liquid plus echinacea (2) prophylactic dmannose twice daily (3) 4 hourly d mannose if an infection is brewing (4) probiotics daily - Optibac for Women - contains one of the strains good against resistant ecoli. Avoid alcohol and a high sugar diet

[Snakelet]

If anyone is really suffering and feels they are getting nowhere and have symptoms but tests all coming back as normal I can absolutely recommend going to see Professor Malone-Lee in London .

My quality of life was so grim and I had consultants telling me I had no infection and a condition called Cystitis Cystica. I had bladder and urethra stretches, instillations, prophylactic antibiotics, D-Mannose, cranberry supplements, short courses of antibiotics which I had to virtually arm wrestle my GP for as I had ‘no infection’. After 6 years and reading about Professor Malone Lee I paid to see him privately (he has retired from the NHS).

He was horrified to find severe infection and massive epithelial cell shedding. He said he wasn’t surprised I felt awful. He started me on cefalexin 4 grams a day and an antiseptic tablet (Hiprex). Gradually my white cell count is down (from 120 to 67) and I have my life back.

This guy has treat and researched uti for over 35 years. He is working hard to try get testing and treatment throughout the NHS changed and ensure that women are given the treatment they need to get well and not subjected to useless and invasive protocols which don’t help.

It is the best money I have ever spent and at last I have stopped the horrible treadmill of infection and pain. The Professor says that if women who had their first uti were given a high dose first generation antibiotic for 2-4 weeks he wouldn’t have a clinic anymore as there wouldn’t be thousands of us living with chronic, debilitating UTIs.

[Snakelet]

Forgot to say that the condition I was told I had is not a condition in and of itself but just what a grossly infected bladder looks like (full of cysts and red patches ) 😢

[EntropyRising]

@Snakelet thanks so much for the top tip, I'm going to copy/paste that into an email for my next UTI.

@JustineBMumsnet, I get them all the time, but not now (fingers crossed) - how long will this be going on?

thanks.

[Thegreatfruittheft]

Used this service and it was abysmal. Bought the test no problem then could not get a pharmacist to actually analyse the results. Total waste of time and money.