Lower Limb – Recommendations for Clinical Care
The National Wound Care Strategy Programme
(NWCSP) is seeking to improve the care of
wounds. The unwarranted variation in UK
wound care services offers major opportunities
to improve healing rates and thus reduce
patient suffering, spend on inappropriate
and ineffective treatments and the amount of
clinical time spent on wound care.
Lower Limb ulcers are wounds on the lower leg
(below the knee) and foot that are slow to heal.
It is estimated that approximately 1.5% of the adult
population in the UK is affected by active leg and
foot ulceration, which equates to 730,000 patients 1.
There is considerable variation in practice and
outcomes 2 which increases care costs and extends
healing times 3.
These results are in line with systematic reviews
which report that compression therapy doubles the
chances of venous ulcer healing 4 6.
By contrast, it is estimated that UK practice is
only achieving healing rates of 47% at 12 months
for venous leg ulceration 7. Admittedly, these low
healing rates are across populations of ulcer patients
rather than samples of patients who are suitable
and willing to take part in randomised trials and
thus likely to be more willing or able to comply with
care delivered by clinicians with a specialist interest.
However, there is a strong argument that
commissioning equitable and accessible services for
leg ulceration would reduce unwarranted variation
of care, increase the use of evidence-based care and
discourage the over-use of therapies for which there
is insufficient evidence 2, resulting in higher healing
rates.
Per scaricare il PDF digita –> Lower-Limb-Recommendations-WEB-25Feb21
[ Tratto da: www.NationalWoundCareStrategy.net ]
