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Wound care


Healing power


Chronic wounds present a substantial economic burden to healthcare systems worldwide, while significantly reducing the quality of life for those affected. For many patients, the affliction can lead to limb amputations or even premature deaths. We’re sadly unlikely to see a marked reduction in chronic wounds anytime soon – but one treatment pathway that could be promising is the use of electrical stimulation to aid in the wound-healing process. Andrea Valentino speaks to experts across the sector to learn more.


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f you had to bet, what are the biggest financial burdens on the NHS? You can likely guess some: cancer, dementia, mental health. But while each lung cancer patient costs healthcare more than £9,000 annually, and the pressures of dementia rise with an ageing population, the country’s politicians typically neglect another, no less intense, strain on the national health service: chronic wounds. Sparked by a range of different conditions, from fungal infections to cardiovascular issues, what’s indisputable is their effect on Britain’s collective purse. As far back as 2017–8, after all, doctors and nurses were treating


Practical Patient Care / www.practical-patient-care.com


some 3.4 million wound patients each year. Altogether, these procedures cost the taxpayers £3.8bn. Nor, of course, are chronic wounds merely a monetary concern. Once again, the statistics are stark, with ulcers preceding some 85% of limb amputations, even as non-healing diabetic wounds globally oblige doctors to remove a patient’s arm or leg every 30 seconds. And while techniques to mitigate against these dangers certainly exist, they’ve traditionally been exhausting for patients and nurses alike. As Mamun Rabbani, a PhD student at City, University of London and member of the Targeted Therapy


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