Colostomy UK’s Year in Review: 2025

22 April, 2026

1. Support and Empower

Throughout 2025, our staff and volunteers attended over 60 events nationwide, including hospital open days, professional forums and major accessibility shows such as the Occupational Therapy Show and Naidex (the UK’s leading event for disability and independent living). At these events, we shared our expertise alongside a number of our volunteers who brought their lived experience to these public settings.

Our Community Liaison Lead, Shauna Ann, helped establish five new stoma support groups across the country. We also supported countless existing groups through visits, emails, and calls. We delivered ten stoma care workshops for healthcare professionals, carers and unpaid carers, which 86% of participants rated 5/5.

Shauna also oversaw our Active Ostomates programme throughout the year too. Participants were able to enjoy online sessions in yoga, Pilates, chair yoga, and mindfulness. Thanks to participant feedback, we know that 90% felt the programme met their goals, 85% planned to continue exercise, and 90% would recommend it to others.

It was a busy six months for our Volunteer Manager, Ria Robinson, before she went on maternity leave, and subsequently, a busy six months for Maxine McGinley, who is covering Ria while she is off. Between them, they have supported and coordinated our 80+ volunteers and six trustees, ensuring all have received essential training, inducted 15 new volunteer recruits and continue to act on feedback from the Volunteer Survey.

2. Knowledge

Our Marketing and Campaigns manager, Giovanni Cinque, spent much of 2025 engaging with national institutions, ensuring that the voices of ostomates were centred in several major initiatives.

We supported the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)’s Late-Stage Assessment of one-piece closed colostomy bags. By serving on relevant committees, we demonstrated how practical stoma management is affected by product choice and prescribing decisions. Our involvement ensured that the new guidance reflects both the real-world impact of product selection and the importance of patient-centred choices. We are now supporting NHS England’s review into stoma and continence clinical pathways, with the aim of ensuring standardised care across the country.

We now also sit on nine Airport Accessibility Forums across the UK, and I have spoken at the Aviation Accessibility Task Group, shaping stoma-related recommendations for the Civil Aviation industry.

Shauna led on the launch of a bi-monthly newsletter for healthcare professionals, which provides practical insights from people with lived experience, and highlighting gaps that professionals may not be aware of.

Our Volunteers & Support Coordinator, Jo McKenzie, ensured that 21,592 information booklets, on everything from rectal discharge to holiday checklists, were posted to Stoma Care Nurses throughout 2025.

Tidings’ very own Ross Othen-Reeves also developed a partnership with academics at University College London (UCL). The research project explores how spending time outdoors, unplugged from devices like phones, can have a positive effect on mental health and wellbeing.

3. Compassion

Our Head of Support and Operations, Leanne Wood, has kept a watchful eye over our Helpline during 2025. Thanks to her expertise, we know that our staff and volunteers took an incredible 4,505 calls, with the most popular topics being emotional support, supplies and stoma management. That is up from 4,404 calls in 2024.

We also grew our private Facebook group to 12,573 members. The group is a fantastic place for ostomates to provide peer-to-peer support and is also carefully monitored by our staff and volunteers.

4. Inclusivity

Overseen by Giovanni, our Stoma Friendly Toilets campaign continued to grow, with over 400 venues updating their facilities in 2025. This included sports stadiums, shopping centres, and even castles!

Colostomy UK’s Rugby League team and Wheelchair Rugby team also had bumper years, with 42 players engaging in 14 games throughout the year. The teams appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including several major features such as BBC Breakfast.

Steered by our social media executive, Lauren Ross, we launched our Stoma MythBusters campaign around Stoma Awareness Day on the 4th of October. The campaign directly challenged myths surrounding stomas, and was a huge success, reaching 700,000 people online.

5. Togetherness

We welcomed two new Support Coordinators to our small but mighty team in 2025 too. Debs Meredith and Peta Barratt bring with them a wealth of lived experience and quickly proved wonderful assets to the team.

In August, our Volunteers Manager, Ria Robinson and her husband Luke, welcomed their new son, Rowan Maxwell, into the world, and we couldn’t be more thrilled for them.

Our Chair of the Board, Mandi Laing, handed the baton to Matthew Pollitt at the beginning of 2026. Mandi has been an incredible support to the organisation and will be greatly missed. We also welcomed two new trustees, Giorgia Callaghan and Emma Parker, who have both brought fresh and exciting ideas to the board.

Our Fundraising Executive, Megan Lowden, did a fantastic job of engaging with countless people who have fundraised for us throughout the year. Our supporters have climbed mountains, run marathons, jumped out of planes, and even dedicated their birthday and wedding gift donations to us.

Our fantastic finance team, Nicola Kendall and Margi Pandya, ensure that all funds we receive are managed responsibly, and directed to the areas of the charity where they will have greatest impact.

Thank You

When I look back on everything we achieved together in 2025, what stays with me most are the people behind it all. None of this work happens without the dedication of our staff, volunteers and trustees, or without the generosity and trust of our supporters. Every conversation, campaign and piece of support we offer is made possible because you believe in what we do and in the people we are here to serve.

As we begin 2026, securing sustainable funding is essential if we are to continue this work. Donations enable us to keep vital services running, respond when people reach out at some of the most difficult moments in their lives, and plan with confidence for the future. Simply put, the support we receive directly shapes what we are able to offer the stoma community, today and in the years to come.

On behalf of everyone at Colostomy UK, and personally from me, thank you for standing with us. Together, with your continued support, we can protect what matters most and keep making a meaningful, lasting difference in the year ahead.

To learn more about anything covered here, feel free to contact us via: 0118 939 1537 or hello@colostomyuk.org.uk