Dr Una Adderley is a Registered Nurse, District Nurse and Queen’s Nurse who has been involved in tissue viability clinical practice, education, and research for over 20 years. Her background includes tissue viability specialist nursing, teaching evidence-based practice and wound care to undergraduate and post graduate clinicians, contributing to a range of NIHR- funded wound care research studies, researching judgement and decision making for wound care and campaigning to raise the profile of wound care. She is a reviewer for the Cochrane Wounds group, Fellow of the Society of Tissue Viability and was instrumental in the creation of the Legs Matter campaign.

Una has published widely on wound care, particularly in relation to leg ulceration. She is currently Director of the National Wound Care Strategy Programme (NWCSP) which is an NHS England programme commissioned by the Nursing Directorate and being delivered by the Academic Health Science Network.

The NWCSP is aiming to improve wound care in England for people with lower limb ulceration (leg and foot ulcers), surgical wounds and pressure ulcers. The programme is working closely with a wide range of stakeholders from NHS England, health and care professionals and provider organisations, patients and carers, and industry to develop and implement evidence-based recommendations to reduce unwarranted variation, and improve patient outcomes, experience, and safety.

Further information about the NWCSP can be found at: https://www.nationalwoundcarestrategy.net/

Presentation at The Society of Tissue Viability 2023 Conference

The National Wound Care Strategy Programme for England

Objectives

After attending this session, persons will be able to:

• Describe the plans for improving wound care in England
• Describe the benefits of improving wound care
• Access the free NWCSP online resources for improving the skills and knowledge of the workforce
• Describe the plans for improving wound care data and information in England

Abstract

The National Wound Care Strategy Programme (NWCSP) was commissioned by NHS England and began work in 2018 to address the growing burden of wound care. The focus is on improving care of lower limb wounds, pressure ulcers and surgical wounds.

The NWCSP recognises that wound care is a system-wide issue with implications beyond nursing and across primary, secondary and community health care.  Since 2018 it has been developing strategies to improve wound care so that people with wounds get the right care, as early as possible in their wound care journey. This is improving patient experience, increasing workforce capacity, and reducing costs for both patients and the NHS.

The NWCSP is working with many health and care professionals, patients, and carers to examine the current state of wound care in England, plan what needs to happen to make meaningful improvements and begin implementing change. As part of this, the NWCSP is working with:

• the Patient Engagement Network to develop resources for patients and carers,
• Health Education England to complete the NWCSP suite of free-to-access online education resources
• the NHS England Model Health System (Inc. Model Hospital) to improve wound care information for benchmarking quality and productivity and identify opportunities for improvement

and many other stakeholders in their drive to improve wound care in England.

The NWCSP is now moving from planning and strategy development into implementation and the this presentation will  provide an update of progress to date and share the plans for moving forward.

Presentation at The Society of Tissue Viability 2022 Conference

The National Wound Care Strategy Programme for England

Objectives

After attending this session, persons will be able to:

• Describe the plans for improving wound care in England
• Describe the benefits of improving wound care
• Access the NWCSP free online wound care education resources
• Access the NWCSP Wound Care Core Capability Framework

Abstract

The burden of wound care in the UK is large and increasing.  Most of this burden falls on community nursing but wound care is a system-wide issue with implications beyond nursing and across primary, secondary and community health care.   Improving wound care so that people with wounds get the right care early on in their wound care journey would improve patient experience, increase workforce capacity, and reduce costs for both patients and the NHS.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s National Wound Care Strategy Programme (NWCSP) is seeking to improve the care of lower limb wounds, pressure ulcers and surgical wounds.  The NWCSP has worked with many health and care professionals, patients, and carers to examine the current state of wound care in England, plan what needs to happen to make meaningful improvements and begin implementing change.

The NWCSP is now moving from planning and strategy development into implementation.  This presentation will share the plans for moving forward.