Awards recognition for Wound Healing Service

A new team from Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust has celebrated a successful first year by being shortlisted in the prestigious Nursing Times Awards.

Telford Wound Healing Service was established in April 2018 to improve the quality of life for patients living with chronic wounds.

Patients accessing the service in that first year had on average been living with their wounds for 40 weeks with no sign of healing – or even deterioration. Yet, on being taken on by the Wound Healing Service, those same patients have seen their wounds clear up completely in an average of just 11 weeks.

That remarkable track record has seen them shortlisted in the ‘Innovation in Chronic Wound Management’ category of the 2019 edition of the Nursing Times Awards

Gemma Davies, Clinical Lead for the Telford Wound Healing Service, said: “The service launched on 5 April last year after just eight weeks of preparation. It was a special day, and it has been an amazing year since then.

“We are delighted that the judges have recognised our achievements by putting us on the shortlist for this amazing award. We look forward to the rest of the judging process.

“The outcomes that we achieved for our patients have been amazing from day one, both in terms of the wound healing and patients reporting an improved quality of life,” she added.

“We have improved healing rates for patients living with complex wounds, empowered patients to self-care, and reduced hospital admissions as a result.

“Previously many of these patients would have gone on to develop further wounds and have a reoccurrence of their existing wounds due to lack of follow-up care, but that is now addressed as part of our service.”

The winners of the Nursing Times Awards will be unveiled in a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, in Park Lane, London, on Wednesday 30 October.

Jan Ditheridge, Chief Executive of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, said: “The Wound Healing Service have come a very long way in a short space of time.

“It is so well deserved that their achievements be recognised by being shortlisted for these awards.

“They are a team that really live our values, and are committed to delivering patient-centred care in the community that helps people to live well in their own homes.

“We’ll all be keeping our fingers crossed that they now go on and win the award later this year.”