About the Programme
In mid-2023, the National Quality and Patient Safety 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
- 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 aSSKINg care bundle is a tool to guide and document pressure ulcer prevention and management, and is aimed at reducing the risk of patient harm which is often preventable. It is an evidence-based approach that can be adopted across a range of care settings.
aSSKINg is an update to the original five-step SSKIN care bundle pressure ulcers. The update was recommended by the NHS Improvement Pressure Ulcer Core Curriculum team in 2018. This clinical care bundle can be adopted across a range of care settings, and can contribute as an essential part of patient care plans.
aSSKING stands for:
- Assess risk
- Skin assessment and skin care
- Surface selection and use
- Keep patients moving
- Incontinence and care
- Nutrition and hydration assessment or support
- Giving information
The 2 new additional elements are 'a' for assess risk and 'g' for giving information.
The programme team in the National Improvement Programme in Wound Management has reviewed the existing documentation relating to the SSKIN bundle and has updated it to the new aSSKINg bundle. This will inform the development of associated tools and guidance.
aSSKINg care bundle infographic (PDF, 245KB, 1 page)
Patient Safety Supplement
The NIPWM Programme team contributed to the development of Patient Safety Supplement on Medical Device Related Pressure Ulcers (MDRPU), published in June 2024. The Patient Safety Supplement aims to support healthcare staff and patients/service users to identify the risk factors for developing MDRPU, and reiterate how everyone can be proactive in helping to prevent these often avoidable injuries.
Patient safety supplement (PDF, 970KB, 3 pages)
Pressure Ulcer Information Leaflet for Patients and Carers
The NIPWM Programme team have developed a 2 page information leaflet on pressure ulcer prevention and management for patients and carers. This leaflet was developed in partnership with staff, patients and carers.
Pressure ulcers patient information leaflet (PDF, 1.5MB, 2 pages)
Contact
For more information on this programme, please contact our QPS Improvement team at QPS.Improvement@hse.ie