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Tissue viability service
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About the service
The tissue viability service provides specialist advice, treatment and therapy in the management of patients with compromised skin condition and wounds requiring specialist advice. The service runs educational training packages to health care professionals and staff within care homes along with weekly specialist nurse-led clinics for chronic wound and leg ulcers.
- Guidance on pressure sores and what to look out for
- Guidance on how to prevent a pressure sore
Why would someone choose the service?
- The tissue viability service provides specialist enhanced knowledge and skills in the field of wound management, ensuring best evidence-based practice. This means that the patient’s condition is treated effectively reducing the need for need for hospital admission and prolonged treatment
Staff you may meet
- Registered nurses use evidence based knowledge, and their professional and clinical judgement to assess, plan, implement and evaluate high quality person centred care. The work of registered nurses consists of many specialised and complex interventions to ensure people and their families can improve, maintain or recover health, or experience a dignified death.
- We have a range of specialist advisors working in our Trust – they give advice on a wide range of different things, depending on what service they work in. So it could be, for example, mental health, stopping smoking, healthy eating or diabetes.
Why a professional should choose the service
- Achieve contracted activity
- Instrumental in achieving pressure ulcer CQUIN and developing best practice guidelines
- Undertake patient and public involvement (PPI) audits every six months
Support offered
The service provides a range of specialist wound management including:
- Prevention of pressure damage via equipment, education and training and risk assessment
- Management of pressure damage
- Wound assessment and management
- Provision of specialist advice including the development of treatment protocols and wound care formulary
- Treatment of venous leg ulcers including compression therapy, bandage technique, differential diagnosis and advice for healed leg ulcers
- Use of specialist wound management products such as:
- Maggot therapy (larvae)
- Topical negative pressure therapy (V.A.C)
- Flowtron therapy
Outcomes
- Recover skin integrity
- Ability to self-manage and self-care
- Educated to prevent future problems
Referrals accepted from:
A & E, AHPs, CMHTs, Consultants, GP staff, GPs, Hospital staff, Midwives, Other NHS services
Referral criteria:
- The service will accept referrals for patients with complex wound-needs including those who are either a resident in a care home or a resident of Barnsley
- Referrals to the service come from healthcare professionals by email, telephone or letter
- The tissue viability service covers all community-based patients under the care of a Barnsley GP, practice nurse in a GP surgery and residents in private nursing homes in the Barnsley area