MUST Campaign

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The most common diagnostic test for routine and specialist medicine is the analysis of your urine. Why? Because urine is arguably the most valuable specimen that can point to both basic and complex health issues; unlike blood, it is non-invasive to collect pointing to safer patient care.

We call it “liquid gold” as it is used to define a whole range of health conditions from basic urinary tract infection to more complex conditions including some cancers, diabetes, antenatal issues and much, much more.

Why does this matter?  Around 65m urine specimens are analysed annually; yet with almost 1 in 4 being unreliable due to contamination, 14.6 million patients will not be accurately diagnosed.  That’s 59,000 people every day who are not receiving right-first-time diagnosis and treatment and one of them could be YOU.

Additionally, millions of pounds are being wasted by the NHS and other healthcare providers in unnecessary retests, repeat appointments, the over-prescribing of ineffective antibiotics, delayed referrals and cancelled operations as well as placing excessive burden on our already over-stretched healthcare personnel.

MUST is a national campaign led by The Urology Foundation, Bladder Health UK, Age UK and MAMA Academy calling for a protocol, a “gold standard” for the collection of urine samples.  Unlike its diagnostic counterpart blood, there is no protocol in place for urine collection.

We are calling upon the Government and Department of Health to introduce a protocol that will give everyone the right and peace of mind that they will receive the correct diagnosis and best treatment from their urine sample.

MAMA Academy is proud to support the MUST campaign to raise much needed awareness of the amount of unreliable, contaminated urine specimens that are collected every day in the UK. We hope the MUST Campaign will lead to a future where all pregnant women can receive the correct diagnosis and treatment from their urine sample.

Sign the petition today for more trustworthy urine sample collections.

Fore information and how to get further involved, please visit the official MUST Campaign website.