In each issue of JCN we ask a clinical expert in a particular field to take a look at a therapy area and examine some everyday problems that community nurses may experience. In this issue, we look at an important precursor to compression therapy...
Compression therapy is the ‘gold standard’ for patients with lower limb problems. But achieving success is about more than simply applying compression bandaging or hosiery. We asked Trudie Young, tissue viability nurse and director of education and training at the Welsh Wound Innovation Centre, how to ensure that the limb is properly prepared to receive compression, a process that involves assessment, good skin care and debridement.
The recent and ongoing changes to the NHS were instigated to absorb the increasing costs of an ageing population: the NHS needs to save £15–20 billion by the end of 2013/14 for reinvestment into frontline services (Department of Health [DH], 2010a; 2010b).
David Gray, Professor of Tissue Viability, Tissue Viability Practice Development Unit, Birmingham City University, and Clinical Nurse Specialist Tissue Viability, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen
