Indwelling urethral catheterisation is a relatively common procedure, "with an estimated 15—25% of patients in hospital being catheterised at some point during their admission (Loveday et al, 2014). Bardsley, (2015) contends that there are approximately 450 000 people "with long-term catheters in the community (this equates to 3% of the community population), therefore inserting a urethral catheter is one of the most common clinical procedures. Inserting a urethral catheter requires the practitioner to adopt a sterile technique and use some form of single-use sterile gel to lubricate the urethra (Pratt et al, 2007), although guidance is unclear on whether the gel should be an anaesthetic, a lubricant or a combined anaesthetic/antibacterial gel to minimise urethral trauma (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), 2012).
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