As part of World Continence Week 2026, TENA is proud to support the global conversation that challenges how continence care is understood, delivered and prioritised.
When people think about the costs of continence care in nursing homes, the focus is often on product prices. However, this is only a small part of the picture. The true costs of continence care include staff time, care efficiency, resident skin health, laundry and waste volumes, and how effectively limited resources are allocated across daily care routines.
These costs are experienced every day by care teams, even if they are not always visible in budgets or procurement data.
They also affect how efficiently staff can work, how workloads are distributed, and how well individual resident needs are met. These everyday pressures are being brought into sharper focus during World Continence Week 2026, highlighting the need to look beyond product costs alone.
Nursing homes are facing increasing pressure to deliver higher quality care with fewer resources. Resident numbers continue to rise, staff shortages remain a concern, and care demands are growing more complex. At the same time, budgets are becoming tighter rather than more flexible.
This combination places significant strain on care teams and makes it harder for nursing homes to balance quality, efficiency, and cost. Continence care, which touches almost every aspect of daily care, is often where these pressures are felt most strongly.
As part of World Continence Week 2026, a global research study is being commissioned to explore the real challenges of delivering continence care in nursing homes. The aim is to better understand the daily realities faced by healthcare professionals and the long term implications for care organisations.
In continence care, value is not defined by unit price alone. True value comes from delivering better care outcomes while making the most effective use of time, staff capacity, and available resources.
High quality continence care supports person centred care, protects resident dignity and skin health, reduces avoidable workload, and improves overall care efficiency. Over time, this leads to better outcomes for residents, caregivers, and nursing home organisations alike.
For nursing home managers, commissioners, and healthcare decision makers, understanding the full cost of continence care is essential. When the wider impact is recognised, it becomes possible to make more informed decisions that support sustainable, high quality care rather than focusing only on short term cost differences.
Making the invisible visible helps ensure continence care is treated as a priority — not just a line item. Early findings shared during World Continence Week 2026 highlight the challenges across continence care delivery:
92% say that bulk purchasing lower-quality products can be more expensive in the long run
72% say there is unnecessary waste related to continence care
95% say continence care should be a higher priority for decision-makers
By interviewing healthcare professionals and key opinion leaders around the world, our new global research report will expose the main hidden costs of current practices within continence care, showing the true day to day challenges that frontline professionals face along with the biggest negative impacts. The detailed report will help provide professional decision makers with guidance/ information on how our tools and approaches facilitate a person-centered approach and help healthcare businesses to manage continence care more efficiently for greater long-term value.
At TENA, we're committed to improving outcomes in continence care through deeper insight, stronger collaboration with healthcare professionals, and practical, evidence-based solutions. Our new global research report, launching later this year, will provide decision-makers with clear guidance to improve care quality, efficiency, and long-term value. Complete the form above to be among the first to receive a copy.
Essity TENA Global Insights Report, 2026.
With over 60 years of experience TENA is the world’s leading incontinence brand*. We offer a full range of absorbent products, skincare and digital health technology solutions that are tailored to the needs of individuals, their families and healthcare professionals.
With TENA, Essity is at the forefront of developing products and services that help improve dignity and the quality of people’s lives. We strive for sustainable continence care with better care and better products.
*Source: Euromonitor International Limited; Retail Adult Incontinence, all channels, RSP value sales, Tissue & Hygiene, 2024 edition.
TENA, a brand of Essity – a global leading hygiene and healthy company. Everyday, our products, solutions and services are used by billion people around the world. Our purpose is to break barriers to well-being for the benefit of consumers, patients, caregivers, customers and society. Sales are conducted in approximately 150 countries under the leading global brands TENA and Tork, and other strong brands such as Actimove, Cutimed, JOBST, Knix, Leukoplast, Libero, Libresse, Lotus, ModiBodi, Nosotras, Saba, Tempo, TOM Organic and Zewa. In 2025, Essity had net sales of approximately SEK 138bn (EUR 13bn) and employed 36,000 people. The Company's headquarters is located in Stockholm, Sweden and Essity is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. More information at essity.com.
