Ontex, a Belgium-based international personal hygiene group has developed a smart continence management service for care homes and hospitals in Europe under the brand Orizon. 

Hospitals and elderly care facilities face tremendous time and budget pressure to take care of residents. Incontinence is one of the most prevalent conditions in age care facilities, and one of the most important components of the cost for caring in institutions.Around 80% of care home residents have some form of incontinence, as shown in Ontex order data from care homes.  

“Caregivers are under enormous strain, and we want to help them by reducing the time they spend on continence management,” says Annick De Poorter, executive vice president R&D and Sustainability, Ontex. “Our field study has shown that nurses in care homes spend almost half of their time on incontinence-related tasks. Orizon will improve the dignity of residents, reducing diaper checks especially at night, and optimize the time dedicated to continence care reducing the consequences of diaper leakages.” 

The Orizon solution contains a printed sensor, a transmitter clipped onto the diaper, as well as a mobile and web application. This combination accurately determines the saturation level of the diaper and alerts caregivers when it is possibly necessary to change the diaper.


Ontex is going to run pilot projects of Orizon in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the U.K., with a commercial launch across Europe later this year. During a first field study at the start of Orizon’s ongoing validation process, Orizon was tested at a care home De Dennen in Malle, Belgium. Hilde D’hont, care home Quality Director, said: “Orizon improved the daily lives of our residents suffering from incontinence, as well as that of our caregivers. Diapers are now only changed and checked when needed, so residents suffering from incontinence get more time for a chat with staff and are not unnecessarily disturbed during the night. We saw a 40% reduction of leakages during the day and more than 50% at night, three out of four fewer bed linen changes, and an optimal use of absorbents. This has a positive impact on people’s comfort and on the environmental footprint of our care home.”

Unlike most of Ontex’s existing incontinence brands and services, Orizon is based on a monthly fee. By launching Orizon, Ontex aims to optimize the total continence management cost by reducing waste, laundry cost and staff time spent on continence care. Incontinence care is optimized thanks to a more tailored, individual incontinence care for residents. This results in an optimal use of the absorbent capacity, reducing total consumption, and more time for staff to spend on other care tasks or quality time.

Orizon will be brought to the market by Ontex’s two leading incontinence brands, Serenity and iD, capitalizing on existing brand awareness and reputation in European hospitals and care homes.