May 2021: Ased Ali - Winding Down

Due to changes in work circumstances, I regret to announce that I will be winding down much of my private practice over the coming weeks and focussing my future efforts more on research and development within the bladder and continence field.

I appreciate that this news may cause some anxiety to those who are still under my care and I have already started discussing this with individuals who have ongoing treatment needs. With their agreement, it is my aim to help to refer all such patients onto colleagues and other clinicians working privately who can take them on. I also intend to continue practising to a limited degree within the NHS and providing Urological support to my longstanding colleague and friend, Dr Catriona Anderson in her clinics.

When I started my clinic, I felt there was an unmet need to provide better diagnostic services and treatments for patients suffering from chronic bladder and UTI related problems within the 'North' of the UK. While that need undoubtedly still exists, many other services have grown to help sufferers as has awareness amongst Doctors, patients, and the media. Indeed, management of chronic UTI has even been discussed during specific sessions at the annual British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS).

Bladder Health UK, the Chronic UTI Campaign and the various social media groups for embedded or chronic infection have been especially effective at increasing awareness. I am incredibly grateful to them for their support and guidance in developing a service for patients. Going forward, I passionately believe that management of this complex condition is likely to improve substantially over the coming years with more and more clinicians now recognising the limitations of existing treatments and guidelines.

I would like to thank all my patients both past and present for supporting my service and for providing me with so many insights into the treatment of chronic bladder problems. I hope I can continue to help patients with such conditions through my ongoing collaboration with Dr Anderson as well as my NHS and research work.