Acute matron Helen Hodgson is singing the praises of ward 15 as they recently managed a fantastic 81 days without any new pressure ulcers. And as it's an acute elderly care ward, the team rightly have something to be proud of and have already shared their learning with colleagues.

Helen said "This is an amazing achievement. The ward team have put it down to getting the right equipment in and quickly, making sure their patients move or are helped to move regularly, using skin barrier creams correctly and most importantly team work. Every member of the team knows what they have to do and support each other to get there.

And making sure we prevent pressure ulcers at CHFT is so important we recently held our own pressure ulcer summit. 

It was set up to inject energy and enthusiasm into preventing skin damage in our patients and to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers. Medical and surgical ward teams attended from HRI and CRH and were enthusiastic in their engagement (a few photos are below from the session). The group were split into smaller groups and each generated a number of ideas which were then shared. Some have already been put into action!

Small presentations were given by a delegate of ward staff who attended the leadership conference around prevention of pressure ulcers and a brief overview of ward 15s 81 days no new pressure ulcer achievement.