Women typically experience two types of urinary incontinence: stress incontinence (when urine leaks out when the bladder is under pressure) and urge incontinence. According to the intimate health expert Dr Shirin Lakhani, feeling the need to wee as soon as you get home is usually a case of the latter.

“Urge incontinence is when urine leaks when you feel a sudden intense urge to urinate, or soon afterwards,” she explains. “It’s usually the rest of overactivity of the detrusor muscles, which control the bladder.”

Detrusor overactivity can be caused by many factors, including childbirth, pressure on the tummy due to pregnancy or excess weight and damage to the bladder during surgery. It can also be influenced by psychological factors, which is often the case when it comes to latchkey incontinence.

“Why do I need to wee as soon as I get home?” The ‘latchkey incontinence’ phenomenon, explained