Trinity Square Gateshead joins our Stoma Friendly Toilets campaign

31 March, 2025

Colostomy UK and Trinity Square Gateshead are proud to announce that fresh from being awarded National Diamond grade in the prestigious Loo of the Year Awards 2025, one of the North Easts’ premier retail destinations is now Stoma Friendly

Planning trips away from home can be a source of anxiety for many of the 200,000 plus people living with a stoma in the UK as many toilets may not be adequately designed for them to be able to safely change their stoma bags. In some cases, people have had to change their bags on the floor of public toilets.

Accessible toilets often lack the facilities to make stoma bag changing safe and easy, thus acting as a form of social exclusion.

The Stoma friendly facilities at Trinity Square feature:

Hook on door – To hang clothing, handbags and luggage while changing stoma bags. This provides more space in the cubicle.

Shelf space – To enable ostomates to spread out their items easily and avoid having to use unsanitary surfaces.

Mirror – To enable users to see their stoma while changing their appliances.

Disposal bin in every cubicle – To avoid embarrassment for men and women having to dispose of their stoma bag in public view.

Accessible #stomafriendly toilet signage – To highlight the right of ostomates to use the toilet. Reduces risk of hostility for ostomates when using an accessible toilet.

Lynn Stainsby, Trinity Square’s Centre Manager, said: “We are very proud of our public toilets and know how important they are for our shoppers and visitors.  We receive hundreds of comments and praise each year on our facilities, so being able to enhance them, like the recent introduction of a male incontinence cubicle and now making them stoma friendly, means our public toilets are even more accessible for our community.”

Giovanni Cinque, Marketing and Campaigns Manager for Colostomy UK welcomed the announcement.

‘Lack of suitable toilet facilities stops many people living with a stoma from doing many of the things that most of us take for granted, like visiting a shopping centre. We’re delighted that Trinity Square have joined our Stoma Friendly campaign and encourage other organisations to do the same to support the 200,000 plus people in the UK for whom this is such an important change’.

Visit the Trinity Square Gateshead website at https://trinitysquaregateshead.co.uk

Find out more about Colostomy UK https://www.colostomyuk.org/