Viewpoints Resources

How fortunate we are to have specialist teams and services that provide wound care across the UK. But, these teams and services are frequently overwhelmed. Even in pre-pandemic times, increasing referrals, rising caseloads, and the complexities of supporting people with multiple morbidities conspire to challenge service delivery (Guest et al, 2020). At the same time, an over reliance on these teams’ skills by the rest of the system gives rise to the de-skilling of some groups, while inhibiting fundamental wound care skills development in others.

If I were a stick of rock, you would find the word ‘NURSE’ right through me (or maybe ‘community tissue viability nurse’ if there was enough room for all those letters!) So, in 2018, when I came into post as director of the National Wound Care Strategy programme (NWCSP), I saw the issue primarily through a clinical lens. I was not so cloistered that I thought wound care was just a nursing issue, but I did think that it was primarily a clinical challenge. If we could just get the clinical pathways sorted and get everyone who saw people with wounds (GPs, paramedics, podiatrists, surgeons and so on) to work in a more collaborative and coordinated way, we would solve the problem.

Reading the story of Anne’s journey with chronic oedema in a recent issue of JCN was quite disturbing (Rubio, 2021). That someone could have needlessly suffered for so long offers a wake-up call to us all, especially as it is, sadly, a fairly common story. Chronic oedema and lymphoedema are not well understood among many healthcare professionals, so the conditions often go untreated until a patient develops serious complications.

Data from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2020) estimates that 1.5 percent of the adult population have a leg ulcer. To help combat this healthcare crisis, it is essential for stakeholders in lower limb care to collaborate both to raise awareness of leg ulcer prevalence and achieve better outcomes for those suffering with lower limb conditions.

Facing up to the climate crisis is a reality that affects us all in every aspect of our daily personal and professional lives. The delivery of health care inevitably incurs environmental costs, and the UK is regarded as a major contributor to global healthcare-related carbon emissions (Healthcare Without Harm, 2019). The need to address this issue is reflected in the 2019 NHS Long Term Plan and the goal of ultimately delivering a ‘net zero’ national health service for England (NHS England, 2019; 2020).

It is easy to say you are holding an awareness month, but let’s consider the why, what and how.

The Urology Foundation (TUF) is the only medical charity dedicated to improving the nation’s urological health across all urological conditions through the investment of cuttingedge research and the training and education of urology professionals

As serious Covid-19 cases thankfully continue to decline across the UK, we as carers and medical professionals, will hopefully begin to see a return to normal across our usual caregiving services and be able to look towards a brighter future.

Sepsis is the body’s over-reaction to an infection or injury, which causes the immune system to attack its own organs and tissues. It affects 245,000 people every year in the UK and kills 48,000 (Rudd et al, 2020) — more than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined. This ‘hidden killer’ is responsible for one in five deaths worldwide — 11 million a year (Rudd et al, 2020). If not treated quickly as a medical emergency, sepsis can result in organ failure, amputation and death in under 24 hours (Royal College of Nursing [RCN], 2021). However, with early diagnosis, it can often be treated with intravenous (IV) antibiotics and fluids, and the outlook is usually good for the majority of patients who seek urgent medical attention.

Here, Joan Gracie, supervisor, Family Nurse Partnership, NHS Forth Valley and Queen’s Nurse, talks about the importance of addressing blind spots in preconception health and why she wanted to get involved in the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland’s (QNIS’) new programme, Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives, to support women to better prepare for pregnancy.

Wound care specialist and NHS supplier, Daylong Direct, is introducing the world’s first adhesive-free, wearable wound care solution specifically designed for people living with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), HidraWear, to the UK.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease that causes recurrent and painful nodules, boils, abscesses and lesions of the skin (Revuz, 2009). This recurrent and often painful disease is frequently overlooked and can have a profound impact on a patient’s quality of life (Matusiak, 2018).

The founder of HidraWear, Suzanne Moloney, has been living with HS for decades. She and her team have successfully listed HidraWear for reimbursement through the public health service in Ireland, making it the first country in the world to make HS specific dressings available through its public health provision. She is now working with Daylong Direct towards making HidraWear available for patients on prescriptions in the UK. Here, she talks about the difficult journey to getting her diagnosis, the daily struggles of living with HS, and the importance of raising awareness of the condition.