National centre for woundcare excellence is launched

Pioneering treatments that could change the face of woundcare in the UK may soon be discovered following the launch of a new national centre for excellence in woundcare research.

Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the NIHR Wound Prevention and Treatment Healthcare Technology Co-operative (HTC) is one of eight new HTCs being launched across the country.

Around 100 delegates attended an opening event at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds, which was also used as an opportunity for business managers, technology developers, clinicians, academics and other stakeholders to voice the challenges they see in wound management.

What I hear patients and carers say is that what we want is not always what researchers think we want

The event, which was supported by and held in partnership with the HealthTech and Medicines, Electronics, Sensors and Photonics, Materials and ICT Knowledge Transfer Networks, was set against the backdrop of woundcare treatments currently costing the NHS in England an estimated £3.1billion a year.

A focus was placed on discovering current challenges in woundcare and coming up with potential solutions to them. Discussions centred on the importance of end user perspective and delegates also took part in a device evaluation and new product design workshops.

The meeting started with an introduction to the concept of HTCs by Professor Peter Vowden, the clinical director of the NIHR Wound Prevention and Treatment HTC and a world-renowned woundcare expert.

This was followed by presentations from collaborating partners in the HTC, including Delia Muir from University of Leeds; Dr Patricia Grocott and Professor Glen Robert from King’s College London; Dr Stephen Britland from the University of Bradford; and Professor Dan Bader from the University of Southampton.

There are eight HTCs established across the country, each with the aim of fostering innovation in areas of unmet need over the next four years.

Professor Vowden, a consultant vascular surgeon at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The NIHR Wound Prevention and Treatment HTC will look at medical device innovations that are patient led and focused, and the NHS will be a partner for delivery and adoption of new device technology.

“The HTC is very much a national institution with specialisms in product development, clinical trials, cell biology and research and patient-focused trials – all of which provide a range of expertise that will support innovation.”

Carole Bennett, a speaker at the event anda member of the Pressure Ulcer Research Service User Network, who has Multiple Sclerosis, told the delegation how she had cared for her mother who had also suffered with the condition, and how pressure ulcers had been a major issue for her.

She said: “We have discovered that solutions must be patient focused. What I hear patients and carers say is that what we want is not always what researchers think we want.

“For me, that this HTC is patient focused is really important in helping patients get their lives back.”