About the Programme
In mid-2023, the National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate established a two-year programme of work to design, develop, communicate and champion a National Improvement Programme in Wound Management. The programme is co-funded by the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD).
This programme seeks to enable services to optimise the quality of care and outcomes for people with, or at risk of, chronic wounds. The project team use quality improvement and project management methodologies to achieve its goals.
The High Level Objectives are to:
- Oversee the development of a national programme of care for the prevention and management of chronic wounds in two key priority clinical areas (A) Pressure Ulcers and (B) Lower Limb Wounds
- Update the HSE 2018 National Wound Management Guidelines including a standardised wound care assessment
- Scope a proposal for submission to the National Centre for Clinical Audit setting out the rationale for the establishment of a National Chronic Wound Care Registry
The programme of work is overseen within the QPS Improvement Team.
The Clinical Lead (.4 WTE) is Ms Gillian O’Brien, Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner Tissue Viability & Dermatology at Naas General Hospital.
aSSKING Care Bundle
The original five-step SSKIN care bundle approach to preventing and managing pressure ulcers has been established for many years and is widely used in clinical practice, with evidence showing it can help improve clinical care.
In 2018, the NHS Improvement Pressure Ulcer Core Curriculum introduced two important additional elements for preventing pressure ulcers, adding to the existing 5-step SSKIN care bundle with the letters: ‘a’ for assess risk and ‘g’ for giving information.
This clinical care bundle can be adopted across a range of care settings, and can contribute as an essential part of patient care plans.
The programme team in the National Improvement Programme in Wound Management is currently reviewing existing documentation relating to the SSKIN bundle and updating to the new aSSKINg bundle. This will inform the development of associated tools and guidance.
Contact
For more information on this programme, please contact our QPS Improvement team at QPS.Improvement@hse.ie