Labour MP Allison Gardner breaks down as she opens up about UTI ordeal

Most women know what the burning pain of a urinary tract infection (UTI) is like—for many it lasts just a few days, but for Allison Gardner the pain was excruciating, leaving her contemplating taking her own life. 

The Labour MP first opened up about her agonising ordeal during an emotional speech to Westminster as an example of how women’s medical conditions continue to be ‘misunderstood, under-researched and underfunded’, in May 2025.

Ms Gardner was diagnosed with chronic UTI in 2023, after suffering with the debilitating condition for over ten years, as a result of menopause. 

‘At my worst I really wondered how I could go on,’ she told This Morning today.  

‘The pain is incredible, and how it just takes over your life and your mind. The thought of that if this is all my life is going to be, I really felt like I could not go on.

‘I had to do something desperate. I was even considering having my bladder removed. I couldn’t get off the sofa—I’d lie there with bags of frozen peas on me because the severe cold would help.

‘I spoke to some sufferers who would pour boiling water over their legs because the pain of that was less than the pain of the UTI. 

‘It just becomes all you think about,’ she added. 

She believes all of this could have been avoided with better testing and longer courses of antibiotics, not just to treat her symptoms, but the cause of her pain. And Dr Catriona Anderson, a specialist in recurrent urogynaecological infections, agrees. 

Over half of women will experience a UTI at some point during their lifetime, with symptoms including abdominal pain, an overwhelming urge to urinate more often,  and a burning sensation when they do 

The charity group Chronic Urinary Tract Infection Campaign estimates that for about 1.7million women like Ms Gardner, these infections are constant.  

Fuelling this is the fact the the NHS’s diagnostic tests and standard treatment plan—a three-day cause of antibiotics such as trimethoprim—are not sufficient for a lot of women, Dr Anderson explains. 

‘I’ve had many patients where I am so relieved that they get to me before they get their bladder removed,’ the founder of Focus Medical Clinic said, adding that NHS tests only pick up around 60 per cent of infections. 

‘We find the bugs by doing better testing and then put patients on the most appropriate treatment pathway and then their symptoms melt away. It’s not quick, it can take months and months and months.’ 

That’s because when the bacteria aren’t treated, or are only exposed to a short course of antibiotics which does not completely eradicate the infection, the bacteria can embed in the bladder wall and the infection becomes chronic. 

Once here, the bacteria develop quickly into a sticky ‘biofilm’, which makes it harder for standard antibiotics to kill them off.

According to current NHS guidelines, women and children with straightforward UTIs can be treated with a three-day course of antibiotics, despite numerous studies finding that a five-day course is more effective for the majority of women.

‘This is just talking about acute UTI, when we’re looking at patients who get recurrent, or worse, persistent chronic UTI they require even longer courses to get that break in the back of the infection to lead to the symptoms relieving,’ Dr Anderson added. 

 But health officials have long been concerned that treating chronic UTIs adds to the growing burden of antibiotic resistance—where bacteria develop ways to resist the effect of antibiotics, often after the bugs have repeated exposure to the drugs. 

However, Dr Anderson highlighted the standard course of treatment for certain groups including men and women involves a seven-day course of antibiotics—leading many women to wonder why their symptoms are being overlooked.   

‘I knew that I needed longer antibiotic treatments—three days is not enough,’ Ms Gardner, who previously studied molecular biology before working at the NHS’s spending watchdog NICE, said. 

She continued: ‘I truly believe that all I was doing was breeding antimicrobial resistant bacteria for UTIs because I was clearing maybe 70 per cent of them but then remaining maybe 30 per cent of them were still there and then I’d go on the journey of recurrent UTIs and then it eventually became just all the time.

‘I would have sold my house to get funding for treatment before I met Cat. She saved my life. 

‘But it’s a managed condition, I have to be honest with you, I live in fear of maybe a day when it flares up completely and I never come back again to normality,’ she added. 

Melissa Kramer, CEO of LIVE UTI Free, previously told the Daily Mail that this a growing concern among women who suffer with recurrent and chronic UTIs.

‘There are three main issues: inaccurate testing methods, antibiotic courses that are not long enough to kill off bacteria, and a lack of recognition of chronic UTIs as a medical condition.’ 

Currently, women in this position may be prescribed a low-dose antibiotic for six months or longer, but only short courses are recommended by NICE for acute UTIs. 

But there could soon be a new treatment on the horizon for women suffering from the debilitating condition: gepotidacin. 

Also known as Blujepa, the new pill is the first in a new class of oral antibiotics for UTIs in nearly 30 years. 

Last month the MHRA announced it has approved the drug to treat uncomplicated UTIs, the most common bacterial infection in women. 

The government official website states: ‘With drug-resistant bacteria increasing, new treatment options are critical in preventing treatment failure and complications, including sepsis or permanent kidney damage.’ 

Dr Anderson explained that the ‘exciting’ new treatment works by blocking two enzymes that bacteria need to replicate and multiply, making it effective against drug resistant infections. 

However, doctors are not yet able to prescribe the drug until it has been assessed by NICE, which will weigh up the quality evidence against cost effectiveness. 

The Labour MP said of the potential new treatment: ‘What worries me is this clinical and cost effectiveness balance because its making the balance between the two and the quality of life people have.’

An NHS spokesperson told This Morning: ‘Too often in the NHS we hear of women whose health concerns have been dismissed and we’re actively addressing this through education training, improving our services, including establishing women’s health hubs.’