Innovative StartUp of the Year - UK StartUp Awards
Joyvié is developing patent-pending faecal incontinence underwear that keeps stools contained in a disposable pouch and away from the skin. We’re rethinking what faecal and double incontinence care could look like, designed around real people, real bodies and real life.
Care professionals
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When Zoe Robson’s dad, Fred, was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer on Christmas Eve 2024, her family was suddenly living a reality they had never expected. Fred was 77, fit and sharp-minded. Eleven weeks later, he was gone.
During those weeks, Fred lost control of his bowels and had to wear a nappy. Not because it was a good solution; it was the only one available. Zoe was horrified by Fred’s profound loss of dignity. His skin broke down quickly, with the nappy holding waste against it. Zoe’s mum, Ruth, became his primary carer. She changed him around the clock, often alone, exhausted and distressed. It was an impossibly hard job.
Joyvié Health is Zoe’s answer to the product that failed them both.
My parents didn’t deserve that. It wasn’t from lack of care.
It was a design failure.
Zoe Robson
Founder and CEO, Joyvié Health
Faecal incontinence affects millions of people, yet it remains one of the least talked-about problems in healthcare. For the person living with it, everyday life can become a constant calculation:
This can leave people feeling isolated, anxious and unable to live life on their own terms. It shouldn’t have to be that way.
For families and carers, the physical and emotional burden can be just as difficult. Yet the products available today seal waste against the skin instead of keeping it away. Faecal incontinence shouldn’t be something people simply endure. We want to make it easier to talk about and easier to manage, for the people living with it and everyone who cares for them. So we started with ourselves.
1 in 2
Half of people with faecal incontinence show signs of poor mental health, compared with under a third of those without.
Parés et al, Colorectal Disease, 2011.
We would never ask someone to wear something we hadn’t worn ourselves.
We didn’t want to ask someone vulnerable to trust our product before we’d tried it ourselves. So Zoe and her husband Ed, Joyvié Health’s Regulatory and Compliance Manager, took laxatives and tested leading products alongside our early prototypes.
It wasn’t glamorous, but we learned quickly what worked, what failed and what needed to change. That hands-on approach still shapes how we develop Joyvié, now alongside people living with faecal incontinence and those who care for them.
Steve’s story
Steve lives with faecal incontinence caused by Crohn’s disease and MS, and uses a wheelchair. He recently started a full-time job, so getting out of the house matters more than it used to. Below is what he said after wearing Joyvié.
I genuinely see how the product will help me gain back some independence.
Steve
Early product trial
Dawn’s story
Dawn lives with faecal incontinence. She is a professional hairdresser for whom closeness to clients and freshness are so important. Below is her exact feedback on wearing Joyvié.
First time I’ve ever worn anything, and I’ve not had an accident, put it that way.
Dawn
Early product formative study
Joyvié is being co-designed with people living with faecal incontinence, family carers, care teams and clinical experts. Their experiences shape what we build, what we test and what we change. Because a product can look great on paper and still fail the person who has to use it. Real bodies. Real routines. Real care environments. That’s what we’re designing for.
Care professionals
Talk to us about a pilotIndividuals and family members
Request early accessWe’re proud to be developing Joyvié within a growing community of healthcare innovators.
Joyvié Health exists because Zoe saw what happened to her dad and her mum. The problem wasn’t a lack of care. The product wasn’t good enough. So we’re building something better. Designed to maintain skin integrity. Designed around daily life. Designed with carers in mind. And, above all, designed for dignity. No one should have to accept second best just because it’s all that’s ever existed.
Grief gave me clarity.
Dad deserved better than the only product available to him. So did Mum. We promise to deliver a product designed to restore dignity, maintain skin integrity and free up more time for care. That should be the baseline for every continence product, not the exception.
No one receiving care, or giving it, should have to accept the unacceptable.
Zoe Robson
Founder and CEO, Joyvié Health.
Fred and Ruth’s daughter.
Care professionals
Talk to us about a pilotIndividuals and family members
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