Staged at Barcelona's Centro Médico Teknon Hospital, the event was attended by 120 delegates - among them urologists, gynaecologists, primary-care physicians, nurses, and physiotherapists working in both hospitals and outpatient facilities.

As one of the UK's leading authorities in this specialist field, Kath was invited to address the Spanish conference on the topic 'A Virtual Approach to Catheter-Care Education.'

Last year, she was among key personnel from Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust who developed a new training course, called 'The Management of Urinary Catheterisation for Adults'. It was done in partnership with the national Healthcare e-Academy, which delivers clinical and non-clinical online training programmes via the internet to the NHS. The Academy is an operating division of online-training pioneer Virtual College, of Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

The training module, primarily designed to improve catheter care and reduce healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs), has had a major impact. Earlier this year, the course received Royal College of Nursing (RCN) accreditation.

Kath comments, "The conference allowed us to share ideas because the way continence care is delivered in Spain, with its private healthcare system, is completely different from the UK. The Healthcare e-Academy opened up access to its urinary catheterisation management course to all delegates, and there was a great deal of interest.

Judith Clarkson, Virtual College's divisional director of e-academies, says, "The training module has made a major impact among UK healthcare-sector personnel. We are more than happy to share our experience and expertise with fellow healthcare professionals in Spain."