A national audit of chronic constipation in the community.

This article presents the first available data on current national bowel-care standards. It involves 923 patients based at home or in residential/nursing homes. The baseline findings indicate problems of poorly controlled constipation, a high level of impaction and high use of rectal interventions. All the patients have been receiving laxatives regularly and 42 per cent were on combination laxative therapy. The audit provides evidence of complex, ineffective and/or inappropriate laxative prescribing linked to sub-optimal bowel care.