What have tissue viability services learnt from the coronavirus pandemic?
- Schofield, Alison
In this article…
The challenges of providing optimal wound care to patients
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on tissue viability services
How services have found innovative solutions to ensure effective care
Key points
This article is supported by an educational grant from Mölnlycke
COVID-19
The cost of wound care is comparable to that of managing obesity
In non-crisis times, wound care accounts for around 50% of the community nursing workload
The coronavirus pandemic response has highlighted the low priority given to chronic wounds
A positive effect of the pandemic response has been advancement of the patient self-care agenda
Due to the pandemic, there is now a greater focus on digital solutions to make sure patients receive appropriate care
Abstract Suboptimal wound care causes unnecessary distress to patients, increases the economic burden on the NHS and results in more hospital admissions, yet standards of wound care vary across the country and the issue of chronic wounds is largely overlooked. During the coronavirus pandemic, many tissue viability services had to drastically reduce their services as staff were redeployed to other areas. The pandemic required things to be done differently and this article describes how services have risen to the challenge of providing care in new and imaginative ways. The lessons that have been learnt could result in a lasting improvement in the management of chronic wounds.