25 Jul Alleviating The Pressures Faced by Wound Community Nurses
The NHS spends almost as much on hard-to-heal chronic wounds every year (£5.3 billion) as on cancer treatment (£5.6 billion). However, poor patient adherence to current standard of care has led to 15 – 20 percent of long-term chronic wounds remaining unhealed after a year, with some never healing at all. This economic cost to the hard-pressed health care systems is unsupportable in the long-term – and the human cost and pressure on patients and the families of those living with non-healing wounds is huge.
According to a recent study, one in 50 people in the UK is living with a chronic wound, many with comorbidities and this number is set to rise. The complexity of wound management, which involves a combination of hospital visits, at-home care and patient self-management, is resulting in a growing demand for community nurses in wound care. However, with worsening working conditions and a lack of resources, 46% of wound community nurses are reporting job dissatisfaction, resulting in a major exodus of staff.
With wound patients relying heavily on community nurses to provide leg ulcer care and post-operative wound management in the home setting, healthcare systems are looking towards innovation to increase patient self-management and shared-care, to alleviate the demand on an increasingly overstretched community nurse teams.
Enter the geko™ device
Results of our recently published randomised self-controlled trial (RCT) demonstrate geko™ device efficacy in doubling the rate of venous leg ulcer (VLU) healing when used alongside compression therapy, compared to compression therapy alone. This is achieved through an increase in blood flow, transporting oxygenated blood to the wound edge and bed. Notably, the geko™ device increases a patient’s ability to self-care and share-their-care with family members, empowering patients to take control of their health and feel like themselves again.
Importantly, accelerated VLU healing and increased patient self-management reduce community nurse home visits, releasing over-stretched community nurse teams to better manage their high workloads, and simultaneously releasing healthcare system savings.
To find out more about the clinical applications of the geko™ device visit our website here.
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