Going further for wound healing
The Going Further for Wound Healing report was launched at the Public Policy Projects (PPP) Wound Care Conference on Thursday, October 19.
The report includes policy recommendations based on the findings from a series of roundtable discussions chaired and attended by wound care experts and academics as well as system decision makers, including QNI Chief Executive Dr Crystal Oldman CBE.
It calls for wound care to be prioritised at the national level by NHS England, supported by ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care, to enable the delivery of evidence-based wound care to all patients, reducing the workforce burden and associated costs.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE, Former President, Royal Society for Public Health, said: “This excellent report by PPP highlights huge inequalities throughout the country in the quality and range of wound care.
“It points the way to transforming wound care delivery to save the NHS time, money and improve patient outcomes. Given the huge number of NHS patients who need wound care every year, it is essential that Government and the NHS take note and act on the report’s recommendations.”
Access to wound care services in the UK is a postcode lottery, resulting from restrictive and varied commissioning policies, which have produced stark inequalities between patient groups. Levelling up care to the Diabetic Foot Ulcer standard, in which the multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach to care is central, is an option for commissioners to address inequality in wound care.
To get commissioned effectively, wound care must be prioritised at the ICB level. A financial incentive, as well as improvements to care delivery and patient outcomes, must be demonstrated to achieve this. Existing programmes and sites are delivering promising results, and some ICBs are prioritising them, but the next step is to achieve widescale adoption.
To make evidence based wound healing protocols the standard of care across the NHS, a shift in national culture must take place. This requires the establishment of a top-down approach where, with the support of Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England should set wound care as a national priority.
Download the Report: https://publicpolicyprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/PPP-Wound-Healing-Report-1023.pdf
Visit the PPP website: https://publicpolicyprojects.com/ppp-wound-care-conference-2023-setting-wound-care-as-a-national-priority/