Miss Pooja Balchandra is a Consultant Urogynaecologist and Obstetrician at HMT St Hugh’s Hospital in Grimsby. She is an accredited Subspecialist in Urogynaecology with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, providing specialist care for women with urinary incontinence and pelvic floor prolapse, alongside benign gynaecological conditions such as heavy or irregular periods. She trains other surgeons in urogynaecology at one of only fifteen approved subspecialty training centres in the country.

Prolapse and incontinence are among the conditions women live with longest before seeking help, usually because they assume it is simply the consequence of childbirth or age and that nothing much can be done. Neither is true. There is a wide range of treatment, much of it non-surgical, and where surgery is the right answer it is done by a subspecialist rather than by a general gynaecologist who occasionally operates on prolapse.

About Miss Balchandra

Miss Balchandra qualified in medicine from the University of Bombay in 1996 and was awarded an MD in Obstetrics and Gynaecology by the same university in 1999. She is a Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

She is a Consultant Urogynaecologist and Obstetrician at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and holds RCOG subspecialty accreditation in urogynaecology. Subspecialty accreditation is a formal qualification beyond consultant level, awarded after a further period of dedicated training, and relatively few consultants in the country hold it in urogynaecology.

Her practice covers the assessment and treatment of urinary incontinence and pelvic floor prolapse, including prolapse of the uterus, cervix and vaginal walls, along with urodynamic assessment and hysterectomy. She also treats benign gynaecological conditions including heavy and irregular menstrual bleeding.

She is directly involved in teaching and training, delivering lectures, bedside teaching on ward rounds and surgical training in theatre, and teaching medical students. Her NHS trust is one of only fifteen centres nationally approved by the RCOG to deliver urogynaecology subspecialty training, and she is one of the surgeons delivering it.

She organised the Regional Urogynaecology Forum in 2017 and 2019, and is involved in fundraising for local causes.

Areas of expertise

Pelvic organ prolapse

• Prolapse of the uterus
• Vaginal wall prolapse, front and back
• Vault prolapse after hysterectomy
• Cervical prolapse
• Assessment and grading of prolapse
• Surgical and non-surgical treatment options
• Recurrent prolapse

Urinary incontinence

• Stress urinary incontinence
• Urge incontinence and overactive bladder
• Mixed incontinence
• Bladder outflow problems
• Recurrent urinary tract infection
• Urinary frequency and urgency

Bladder assessment

• Urodynamic studies
• Bladder function assessment and interpretation
• Investigation of complex bladder symptoms

Pelvic floor

• Pelvic floor weakness
• Pelvic floor dysfunction after childbirth
• Pelvic floor assessment

Benign gynaecology

• Heavy menstrual bleeding
• Irregular periods
• Menstrual disorders
• Hysterectomy
• Post-menopausal bleeding