Ketamine use harming children's bladders, says clinic

Children are using incontinence pads and urinating in buckets next to their bed at night due to bladder problems caused by ketamine addiction, according to the first specialist NHS clinic dealing with the issue.

- Jessica Murray Social affairs correspondent

Medics at Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool have opened the first ketamine clinic for young people in the UK in response to a surge in urology problems linked to addiction to the drug.

"Some of our patients start wetting the bed or find going to the bathroom at night is actually too hard, so they'll either choose incontinence products or a bucket by the bed," said Harriet Corbett, a consultant paediatric urologist at the clinic.

"I hate to say it, but a lot of them get to the point where they're not fussed about where they go, because the need to go overrides their desire to find somewhere private. And I suspect more of them are incontinent than are willing to tell us."

Corbett said most of their patients were aged 14 to 15, with many reporting they had been using ketamine for one or two years, suggesting some were taking up the drug at age 12.