Wound management is provided across all care settings in NSW. The Leading Better Value Care chronic wound management initiative focus is to improve the management of wounds that do not heal in a timely manner. These are classed as chronic wounds. They include skin tears, pressure injuries, autoimmune/dermatological conditions, diabetic foot ulceration, compromised surgical wounds and leg ulcers.
Many patients with a chronic wound are debilitated, immobile and in pain and they feel isolated and self-conscious. These factors impact their employment, relationships and daily life.
Costs associated with treating chronic wounds are significant for patients and for the system. Treating chronic wounds in emergency, admitted and non-admitted settings are expected to cost $3 billion over the next ten years.
Snapshot of chronic wound management in NSW, 2019
1.6 million
service events for
outpatient care
Standards
Leading Better Value Care Standards for Wound Management 2019
Standards for delivering appropriate chronic wound management in NSW.
For clinicians and services
What to improve
Read about the four clinical priority areas for improving the prevention and management of chronic wounds:
- risk identification and prevention
- ongoing holistic assessment
- treatment and management plan
- enablement and partnerships
How to improve
Explore four options to provide wound management in different service delivery settings to improve the management of chronic wounds.
- Multidisciplinary team-based model
- Wound specialist-led model
- Virtual care (telehealth) model
- Primary care partnership model (Healthcare Neighbourhood)
Additional resources
Evidence review to inform chronic wound management organisational models of care
- Evidence summary
- Experiential evidence healthcare professionals
- Experiential evidence healthcare consumers and carers
- Peer-reviewed research evidence
The consumer experience of living with a chronic wound
Patient-reported measures (WOUND-Q©)
This survey can be accessed and used as part of the NSW Health PRM Program or HOPE IT Platform.
- Is your wound bothering you? [patient fact sheet]
- WOUND-Q© - Patient Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) for patients living with a chronic wound
Chronic wound management capability framework
- The chronic wound management capability framework sets out the capabilities NSW Health workers need to provide effective care across all disciplines and settings.
- After completing the capability self-reflection tool and identifying capabilities you wish to develop, you can find training using the capability and education map.
Chronic wound management virtual care guide
- The chronic wound management virtual care guide describes approaches and options for using virtual care modalities in chronic wound management, including examples of how rural and metro local health districts are using virtual care to improve access to wound management expertise.
Organisational chronic wound management self-assessment
More information about the Chronic Wound Management Initiative
- Chronic wound management initiative
- Chronic wound management – implementation overview
- Article: Working together to improve chronic wound management
Contact us
Email aci-chronicwounds@health.nsw.gov.au or join us as a member of the Chronic Wound Management Community of Interest.