There are about 102 000 people with a stoma in the UK (Black, 2009). There are three main types of stoma that the community nurse may encounter: colostomy, ileostomy and urostomy (Burch, 2008). The community nurse is not expected to be an expert on stomas and can contact the stoma specialist nurse in the local hospital for assistance with issues that do not resolve. However, it is possible that some common complications may be resolved without specialist stoma nurse input. This article aims to provide up-to-date information to assist the community nurse in caring for this patient group. If stoma accessories are appropriately applied, the community nurse may be able to reduce the overall prescription cost of products used. The colostomy is the most common type of stoma and is formed from the colon, usually to treat rectal cancer. The most common position for a colostomy is the left iliac fossa, between the navel and the hip bone. A colostomy is usually red or pink, is minimally raised above the skin by a few millimetres and is warm and moist to the touch. The output from a colostomy is formed faeces and flatus collected and contained in a closed stoma appliance. An ileostomy is formed from the ileum, often in order to treat people with inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis. The most common position for an ileostomy is the right iliac fossa. An ileostomy appears as a small spouted stoma (Cronin, 2013) of about 25 mm, and the output is loose faeces and flatus collected and contained in a drainable stoma appliance. An ileostomy appliance is generally replaced on a daily or alternate-daily basis and is emptied four to six times daily. A urostomy or ileal conduit is formed from the ileum and can be surgically formed to treat bladder cancer, for example. When the bladder is removed, the ureters attaching the kidneys to the bladder are cut away from the bladder and stitched onto a small segment of ileum. One end of the ileum is attached to the skin as the urostomy and the other end is oversewn to prevent urine from leaking into the abdomen. The urostomy has the same appearance and is in the same position as an ileostomy, but will pass urine and a small amount of mucus into a drainable bag with a bung or tap fastening. The urostomy appliance is generally replaced on a daily or alternate-daily basis and is emptied four to six times daily.