Background Birmingham Women’s Hospital is one of two dedicated women’s hospitals in the UK. It is one of the busiest single site maternity units, delivering more than 8,2000 babies a year. A clinical audit was undertaken looking at the incidence of pressure ulcers reported via the Trust datix system from 2019 to 2024. Findings Pressure […]

Background With the publishing of the Best Practice Statement about skin tone bias in 2021 the Tissue Viability Team (TVT) realised potential bias in skin assessment was impacting our patients with dark skin tones. The spike in the number of hospital acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU) in Oct 2022 underscored the urgency of addressing this issue […]

Background & Aim Dialysis patients are recognised as being at increased risk of developing pressure damage and often have several related co-morbidities such as diabetes. It was identified that pressure ulcer (PU) incidents were increasing on the renal wards, which treated patients both on an inpatient and outpatient basis. In 2023 it was estimated in […]

In late 2023 I was asked to establish a tissue viability (TV) structure and service for Circle Health Group (CHG), compromising of a tissue viability nurse and several TV champions in key departments at each of the 53 sites, following a review of the services across the group. It was apparent this had never been […]

Aim It is widely accepted amongst wound care specialists and expert led agenda that early compression therapy is the gold standard for managing wounds on the lower limb at risk of delayed healing. A retrospective audit of the types of wounds presenting in the plastic surgery dressings clinic over a 2-week period highlighted that patients […]

Background In September 2022 it was observed that there had been an increase in the number of patients in ICU developing pressure ulcers. The aim of the Quality Initiative project was to reduce the prevalence of pressure ulcers occurring to patients in the General ICU and to educate and familiarise staff with the Pressure Injury […]

Lower limb management makes up 30% of local community caseload. Guidance from the National Wound care strategy programme has been available in England for several years. One of the local barriers in achieving results is clinicians gaining and maintaining confidence and competence in lower limb assessment. This includes ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI) and effective […]

Background Throughout the acute trust, a lack of standardised wound assessment in all clinical areas was acknowledged through clinical audit and investigation reporting. In addition to this, a CQC recommendation was made to improve on this standard of care. It was observed that this lack of clinical assessment often led to delays in providing evidence-based […]

Background The number of pressure ulcers across our acute sites had shown a gradual increase. There was an identified need for a subject expert Pressure Ulcer (PU) lead to monitor, review and provide assist in education and support. The role of the Pressure Ulcer Improvement Nurse (PUIN) within the Acute Quality Improvement (QI) team was […]

Introduction ICAREWOUNDS is an ongoing European Commission-funded project under the EU Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme, focused on developing and validating a digital, patient-centric platform integrating novel and existing e-health solutions with trustworthy artificial intelligence technology. A key component of this project is co-design method, which is crucial in ensuring the platform’s alignment with […]

Background Research is essential for evidence-based practice through the development and evaluation of treatment strategies and optimising healthcare practice. WHiTE 14-PRESSURE 3 is a randomised clinical trial which aims to assess whether early use of heel specific devices prevent heel pressure ulcers (PUs). With a recruitment target of over 3000 patients across 30 sites in […]

Background Critically ill patients in the Adult Critical Care (ACC) are at risk of developing skin breakdown such as Moisture Associated Skin Damage. The aim of our project is to reduce the number of MASD incidents by 20% in three months by using a new ACC specific MASD care plan in a 36 bedded unit […]