An advanced self-care delivery model for leg ulcer management: a service evaluation.

BACKGROUND

Lower limb ulceration is a common cause of suffering in patients and its management poses a significant burden on the NHS, with venous leg ulcers (VLUs) being the most common hard-to-heal wound in the UK. It is estimated that over one million patients in the UK have lower limb ulceration, of which 560,000 were categorised as VLUs, with a cost burden of over £3 billion each year.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this service evaluation was to assess the effects of implementing a self-care delivery model on clinical outcomes with the intention of limiting face-to-face health professional contact to one appointment every 6 weeks.

METHOD: A suitability assessment was conducted and a cohort of patients were moved to a self-care delivery model. Patient data were collected, anonymised and independently analysed, comparing time to healing against data on file from a previous report.

RESULTS

This highlighted that, in 84 of the 95 patients selected, the VLUs had healed by week 24 on the pathway, a further 10 patients' VLUs had healed by week 42 and only one remaining patient reached 42 weeks without healing.

CONCLUSION

These results support the hypothesis that patients with VLUs can self-care and deliver clinical effectiveness. It is recommended that all services explore the possibility of introducing a self-care model for VLU care.