Creating a system-wide culture of wound-care proficiency

The number of people with a wound in England continues to rise year-on-year (Guest et al, 2020). And so too does the frequency with which specialist teams and services who manage wounds are overwhelmed—with increasing referrals, mounting caseloads and the complexities of supporting people with multiple morbidities.

These challenges to service delivery in difficult conditions have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to the redeployment of some of the specialist workforce, leading to a reduced number of wound-care clinics (Schofield, 2021).

I believe an over-reliance on specialist teams' skills by other health professionals has given rise to the de-skilling of some groups and has inhibited fundamental wound-care skills development in others. This conflux has increased the likelihood that many people with wounds will be seen by health and care staff who have little wound care-related knowledge and skill. The ensuing referral, to a person or team with the right expertise, then causes a delay in treatment, affecting healing time and, consequently, the person's quality of life.