ECCH has key role in ‘Transforming Wound Care’ Programme

ECCH is taking part in a new pilot to improve lower limb wound care alongside partners NCH&C after Norfolk and Waveney integrated care system successfully applied to be the first site in the East of England for a national programme.

In 2019, there were an estimated 739,000 leg ulcers in England with estimated associated healthcare costs of £3.1 billion per year.

Early modelling indicated that improving lower limb wound care would release 11% of community nursing time for other areas of care and reduce the spend on dressings due to faster healing and lower recurrence rates.

To help realise this potential, the AHSN Network (the innovation arm of the NHS) has launched the Transforming Wound Care Programme and provided some funding which aims to support the adoption and spread of the evidence and learning from NHS England’s National Wound Care Strategy Programme (NWSCP)

The desired outcomes are:

• Faster healing of wounds through earlier intervention
• Improved quality of life for patients 
• Reduced likelihood of wound recurrence 
• More efficient use of health and care resources 

ECCH will be working to support patients within our four Primary Care Networks - Great Yarmouth and the northern villages, Gorleston, Lowestoft and South Waveney. For NCH&C the patient cohorts are housebound patients in King’s Lynn (Central) and Norwich PCN.

Some of the key areas for action within the programme of work include:

• Upskilling staff through early intervention education, including those in the wider community such as practice nurses and community nurses, so patients have equitable access to high quality care closer to home.
• Developing a joint lower limb early intervention pathway across Norfolk and Waveney, highlighting the importance of a ‘red flags’ assessment prior to hosiery being applied.
• Introducing a Digital advancement to support wound care assessments.
• Increasing skills in measuring of hosiery to encourage early and appropriate use. Supporting ‘courage to compress with confidence’, which includes older patients who are often less likely to receive compression treatment.
• Aligning assessments for wound care for clinic patients alongside housebound patients in areas of deprivation

As part of the programme our staff will also be producing a video to be used as an educational tool for our own community and PCH teams and it is hoped it can be adapted for use across the UK.