As this issue comes out, I will be celebrating 40 years of being a nurse: 10 August 1981 was the first day of my nursing career. Where do the years go? Yes, I am proud to be a nurse, I have taken pleasure and pride in my nursing career and tried to make a difference, especially during the last 20 years working in tissue viability and wound care. Milestones often lead to reflection and now as a professor I think about the future, both in terms of preparing and of sustaining nursing as well as allied health professionals and medics. What are the attributes required to deliver care? The core capabilities are widely known as being knowledge, skills and behaviours, but they are accompanied by managing change, being flexible, dealing with complexity and complex or unpredictable situations and referring appropriately. Continuing to improve performance is also essential and much clarity has been offered by Skills for Health (https://skillsforhealth.org.uk/). A not-for-profit organisation, it has been ‘committed to the development of an improved and sustainable healthcare and workforce across the UK’. Each year Skills for Health undertakes a 4-minute survey of your thoughts on its provision. Take up the chance to have your say, to people who are listening, through the link on the website.
So, how does this preparation of staff for the future affect the provision of wound care? There is no doubt that during the past 40 years tissue viability and wound care has changed dramatically. It is great to think of all the changes that the next 40 years will bring. Will the move be towards those with more specialist skills deciding, but not necessarily delivering, care, or will the opportunities for bedside diagnostics be so great that those with fewer skills can provide care? The challenge of reducing variation, improving safety and optimising patient experience and outcomes is now explicit within wound care provision. Future research on the most efficient way to deliver care will be essential for the future and there is no doubt that technology, particularly IT, will be an essential part of this. I know from experience that delivering high-quality care is only really effective when it can be measured and counted. Ideally, any data should be collected in an unobtrusive way, not hindering care delivery, and be relevant to ensure quality clinical care data, as well as business and commissioning data.
The National Wound Care Strategy Programme, with its eye on the future, has finally moved towards being a team, with new appointments and with a focus on lower limb and surgical wounds. The programme is working with the first tranche implementation sites to develop national educational resources for those who provide dedicated wound-care services, as well as patient and carer information resources. The move from strategy to implementation is now progressing and the importance of this to patients cannot be emphasised enough. It is a great opportunity for the UK both to provide the very best care but also to demonstrate that this is the case. For an update, please visit the website (https://tinyurl.com/34sf8bry).
Thursday 14 October 2021 is the date for the WCAUK conference at Cheltenham Race Course. Speakers include a range of the WCAUK trustees and now more than ever it will be fantastic to meet with you all face to face. For further information and to book please visit www.wcauk.org. In my last editorial I asked you to complete the repeat WCAUK survey of the provision of education. Over 1000 of you completed this last year, so please do take the time. It will literally take 2 minutes of your time and will enable us to compare the results. The initial survey was at the beginning of the pandemic and we are really interested to see what has changed 1 year on. The survey is available at https://cutt.ly/jnOFvYr
Nursing applications in England have increased this year (Department of Health and Social Care, 2021) and I hope that, like myself, they enjoy their nursing careers and are committed to making a difference. The next 40 years is going to be very different in wound care. Enjoy your nursing, you know you can make a real difference.