Resources

Next year, I will have completed four decades in health care. One of the enduring things you learn with longevity in health care is that the NHS consistently ‘re-invents the wheel’. Introducing shiny new solutions which some of us know are not new and in some cases not that shiny. The latest of these are virtual wards in England, apparently first ‘pioneered’ in March 2020 to prevent emergency admission and to assist with early discharge from hospital.

Chronic oedema is a challenging clinical problem (Figure 1), which will continue to increase and for which most healthcare professionals receive little formal training (Sneddon, 2019). This omission in training can lead to a lack of awareness, confidence and specialist knowledge regarding chronic oedema (Allen and Morgan, 2021).

According to a best practice statement (Wounds UK, 2019), wound complexity increases the likelihood of wound chronicity and can make a wound hard to heal. A ‘complex’ venous leg ulcer (VLU) has a number of indications that link to lymphovenous disease

It has been reported that one in 500 people in the UK are living with a stoma (Colostomy UK, 2022) and nearly three-quarters of people with a stoma experience skin problems. Therefore, skin assessment, cornerstone of peristomal skin care. This article introduces common peristomal complications, focusing on the assessment and prevention of two distinct groups of peristomal skin damage; peristomal moisture-associated skin damage (PMASD), one of the types of moisture-associated skin damage (MASD), and peristomal medical adhesive-related skin injuries (PMARSI).

Faecal incontinence (FI), always has an underlying cause (Harari, 2009). It is defined as any involuntary loss of faeces that is a social or hygiene problem (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], 2007).

The population of the UK, as with other developed nations, is ageing. Estimates show that in 50 years’ time, there are likely to be an additional 8.6 million people aged 65 years and over living in the UK (Office for National Statistics [ONS], 2018a). The increased ageing and morbidity of our population is driven by several factors.