The wound care industry has always been a proud partner and enabler to helping front line NHS staff provide the best possible care and clinical outcomes to patients experiencing the many issues associated with having a chronic wound.

The ‘Burden of Wounds’ study from Guest et al, is an important contribution to helping us understand the nature of wound care service delivery in the UK, and the changes needed to shape future care.

Key statistics from the study include:

• The total annual cost of wound management is £8.3billion, of which 67% is spent on managing unhealed wounds
• Over 70% of cost is associated with Nurse, Doctor, or Healthcare Assistant visits, with wound products only accounting for 6% of spend
• The NHS manages 3.8 million patients with a wound each year, which is equivalent to 7% of the adult population.
• 25% of all wounds lack a recorded differential diagnosis.
• The annual prevalence of wounds increased by 71% between 2012/13 and 2017/2018, with patient management cost increasing by 47% in real terms.
• Annually wound management resource use includes:
• 54.4 million district/community nurse visits
• 53.6 million healthcare assistant visits
• 28.1 million practice nurse visits.

ABHI & SDMA Infographic

This infographic, developed by ABHI and SDMA, highlights the key insights from the study, demonstrating how technologies are far from being cost drivers, and, rather, enablers of improved care through their ability to support staff with online learning, clinical decision-making systems, wound dressings, diagnostics and therapeutics. Crucially, procurement of wound management technology should be based on the overall value to the system, focusing on the how it can maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of the workforce, rather than on simple acquisition cost.

Click below to download info graphic

Key Recommendations

1. A strong system of education, reliable wound diagnosis and consistent use of wound care technology can help deliver better patient outcomes.
2. Suitable diagnostics and the appropriate wound management technology should be available and funded accordingly, so that staff can deliver high quality, patient focussed care.
3. Procurement of wound management technology should be based on the overall value to the system, focusing on the how it can maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of the workforce, rather than on simple acquisition cost.