‘Trying to lead a normal life’: why patients may fail to adhere to leg ulcer treatment

October 12-16 was Legs Matter Awareness Week—5 days filled with virtual educational events from Pilates and mindfulness to live discussions with vascular consultants. We heard sobering stories from brave people keen to share their experiences via blogs or film, and social media platforms were buzzing with comments and ‘likes’. The focus of the week was to raise awareness of lower limb and foot problems across the public domain and to make available a variety of resources that would enable people to make informed decisions about their care.

In many cases, having a better understanding of their underlying condition appears to increase the likelihood of patients being an active partner in their care and, more often, patients are being supported to self-care as a solution to managing the huge burden of leg ulceration on the NHS (Atkin, 2019; Hopkins, 2020).

We are fortunate to have some of these knowledgeable patient partners standing alongside us as part of the Legs Matter coalition and they have helped to shape our strategy and decision-making based on their personal, real-life experiences.