UK MP Urges Official Definition of Chronic UTI: "It Feels Like Hot Needles Being Pushed In"

Dr Allison Gardner, a member of parliament from the UK Labour Party, revealed that she had considered ending her life due to the severe pain caused by a chronic urinary tract infection (UTI). The condition, which she has experienced for about a decade, she said, made her feel like a "drug user" because she had to constantly seek long-course antibiotics to relieve her symptoms.

Chronic UTI is an infection whose symptoms do not resolve and do not improve with short-course antibiotics. The condition is also difficult to diagnose because bacterial levels in urine samples are often low. According to the Chronic Urinary Tract Infection Campaign (CUTIC), more than 1.6 million women in the UK experience chronic lower urinary tract symptoms, but to date there is no official medical definition for the condition.

Gardner, who is also a doctor, said that the lack of consensus on what constitutes chronic UTI made her feel dismissed by doctors. Doctors, she said, do not always understand the condition and are limited in how long they can prescribe antibiotics. "You end up hunting for enough antibiotics over a long enough period to give you some relief," she told the BBC.

She described her pain as "a stabbing pain every time I go to the toilet", like "hot needles being put into your body and burning away". Gardner said she had felt "gaslit" by medical staff and was advised to "clean herself better" after reporting severe pain. At one point, a consultant suggested she stop having sex because it could trigger a flare-up.

"You have to fight constantly just to get reasonable care and not be accused of being anxious, depressed, or attention-seeking," she said. Ultimately, the pain and the absence of answers brought her to her lowest point. "I got to the point of thinking, if this is what my life is going to be like, I can't carry on," Gardner recalled. She even considered selling her house to fund a private bladder removal operation.

However, three years ago she met Dr Cat Anderson, a general practitioner in Staffordshire who works in both private and NHS services. Anderson was the first to identify that Gardner's symptoms were linked to menopause and prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT). "I've been UTI-free for two years—I got my life back," Gardner said. When asked whether going private conflicted with Labour's support for free healthcare, she replied, "You're faced with a choice, aren't you? You either suffer or you go private... so I don't judge."

Anderson, who specialises in complicated UTI cases, now leads a group of medical experts to develop a medical definition of chronic UTI to distinguish it from other conditions. The panel hopes the official definition will pave the way for better diagnosis and treatment. According to Anderson, a persistent infection can "destroy patients' quality of life"—limiting their ability to work or even just pick up their children from school. She has also seen people who were "genuinely driven to suicide" by "horrific" symptoms.

The expert panel led by Anderson alongside Sachin Malde, a consultant urological surgeon in London, plans to release an official definition of chronic UTI in 2027. The definition will then be submitted to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE). NICE said it has recommended further research to develop a "clear evidence base" before making recommendations. Meanwhile, NHS England confirmed there is no single national dataset that specifically records all chronic UTI cases as a separate clinical diagnosis.

Beyond the definition and improved diagnosis, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) covering this issue wants all general practitioners to be trained on chronic UTI and to introduce a "passport" for patients so they do not have to repeatedly explain their medical history. Last April, the then Health Minister, Wes Streeting, said the NHS had a "terrible culture of medical misogyny" in which women are often dismissed, gaslit, belittled, and disrespected. However, Luke Taylor, a Liberal Democrat MP who co-chairs the APPG, said his group was "disappointed" that Streeting's women's health strategy announcement "didn't even mention UTI, let alone chronic UTI".

When asked what specific improvements chronic UTI patients would see, a spokesperson for the UK Department of Health and Social Care said they are committed to "reducing the impact" of chronic UTI on people's lives and have invested research funding "to ensure women are listened to at every stage, and given access to the high-quality care they need".

Gardner's case highlights a major gap in women's healthcare, especially for conditions that are not well defined. In Indonesia, UTI is also an often-overlooked health problem, with a fairly high prevalence, especially among women. According to Ministry of Health data, UTI is among the 10 most common diseases in outpatient services. However, awareness of chronic UTI and its link to menopause remains low. If in the UK the official definition will only exist in 2027, Indonesia may need to start considering similar steps to improve diagnosis and treatment.

The question is, will the UK government and other countries, including Indonesia, move faster to recognise chronic UTI as a legitimate medical condition? Without a clear definition, millions of women will continue to be trapped in a cycle of pain, uncertainty, and a long struggle to get proper care.