A wound care service in Lincolnshire has helped inform national evaluation of the Health Innovation Network’s Transforming Wound Care programme.

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust implemented the new wound care pathway initially in its First Coastal Primary Care Network to deliver a specialist service to inhabitants, in their own homes.

It has proved so successful that it is being rolled out across the county. It was one of eight Test and Evaluation Sites (TES) included in the report.

Lincolnshire has a high proportion of older people compared to other areas in the East Midlands. An older population is at greater risk of lower limb wounds.

Just over one third of the First Coastal locality is rural with villages and outlying houses, populated by older people, many of whom live alone on low incomes and may have difficulty accessing clinics.

The number of people on the patient list for this PCN is expected to increase by 9% between 2022 and 2035 to 57,294 people. In the same period - the older population will increase by 29.2% and the working age population will decrease by -0.5%.

This means the teams need to be increasingly more efficient at delivering services for their patients, adapting them to best meet patients’ needs.

The wound care service was launched in April 2023 in Lincolnshire to respond to long waiting lists and improve care in line with national guidelines.

The national evaluation report includes findings from a staff survey across all the Test Evaluation Sites, which highlighted:

• Staff observed improvement in patients’ healing rates and reduction in recurrence of wounds.
• Input from tissue viability nurses (if locally available) was a valuable source of specialist training, advice and support for colleagues.
• Overall, responses on the experience of wound care training (e-learning and/or face-to-face) showed that training gave staff more confidence in providing wound care.
• The two common components of the National Wound Care Strategy Programme  Lower Limb Review that were implemented in the TESs were:
  • Immediate and necessary care.
  • Compression therapy (both mild and strong compression).
• The key impact of using technology (Wound Management Digital System or any other technologies) was the improved oversight of patient care with accurate and consistent clinical recording.

• Staff appreciated the continuous support from the local health innovation network and Transforming Wound Care Central Team.

Overall, across all the services taking part in the national evaluation, the healing rate for wounds for the period October 2023 to March 2024 showed a steady increase in the number of wounds being healed within 12 weeks of being assessed.

Patient healing rates varied between 53% and 78% being recorded as healed within 12 weeks.

In Lincolnshire, the changes have been so well received that the programme is being rolled out to cover the whole of the county.

One patient who received care from the service said: “My legs are not as swollen and heavy, so I am able to mobilise easier. I am now able to get into a car and go out which I have not done for a very long time. I am no longer in pain all the time.”

Read the full evaluation report https://thehealthinnovationnetwork.co.uk/programmes/wound-care/transforming-wound-care/#78ad0700f39dfca6f

Read more about the wound care programme