Reading the story of Anne’s journey with chronic oedema in a recent issue of JCN was quite disturbing (Rubio, 2021). That someone could have needlessly suffered for so long offers a wake-up call to us all, especially as it is, sadly, a fairly common story. Chronic oedema and lymphoedema are not well understood among many healthcare professionals, so the conditions often go untreated until a patient develops serious complications.