1 in 50 adults in the UK suffers from a chronic wound, contributing to more than £8billion in healthcare costs in 2017/18.
Of these costs, approximately 67% is spent on the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds – a cost that increased following the pandemic, the result of a decrease in care during 2020 and 2021, which was outside the boundaries considered to be good care and led to poorer patient outcomes.
The treatment of chronic wounds is labour-intensive and complex.
They result from impaired blood flow in damaged or diseased leg veins, leading to complex physiological changes that result in skin breakdown and poor healing.
Venous leg ulcers (VLUs), in particular, are typically long lasting, have a high risk of recurrence, and a negative impact on health-related quality of life.
In the UK, complex wounds, of which VLUs are the most common type, are mainly treated in the community by nursing teams.
Adding to wound healing complexity is low patient adherence to standard of care (SoC).
SoC in the treatment for VLUs (which account for approximately 80% of all leg ulcer cases) is compression therapy.
Leaders and providers in wound care are unified in wanting a data-led approach to wound management and treatment to help improve patient outcomes
Compression therapy, which offers a range of bandaging systems can, however, prove extremely uncomfortable for many patients. And, due to the nature of their pain, some forms of compression therapy cannot be initially tolerated at all, resulting in inadequate light bandaging.
Patient adherence is currently reported to be between 12%-52%.
However, more-recent and accurate data on the current state of patient adherence is required to drive improved outcomes moving forward.
The burden of wound management
In the UK wound care is estimated to consume up to 65% of community nurses’ time, and specialist wound services have shown to increase healing rates.
VLUs have high recurrence rates and can lead to chronic wounds if not managed appropriately; hence early identification to treat and prevent these is essential for a person’s quality of life, and to reduce the financial burden on the person and healthcare system.
VLU prevalence rates increase with age and, for more-elderly patients, age-associated changes can lead to chronic wounds.
Wound care is an area in need of innovation and, if used safely and securely, AI could prove to be a crucial element in the future of wound care that drives improved clinical research and enables the adoption of new solutions, ultimately creating a brighter future for patients and the wider healthcare system overall
When treating wounds, healing can be slow, and, in the case of VLUs, only 53% heal within one year, and some never heal at all.
Wounds that do heal are also at risk of resurfacing, as recurrence rates are estimated at 57% by one year, leaving many patients suffering on an ongoing basis.
With this in mind, leaders and providers in wound care are unified in wanting a data-led approach to wound management and treatment to help improve patient outcomes.
Benefits of data-led woundcare services are highlighted in Wales, where a national wound registry is delivering more-efficient and timely care to patients and improving research
A need for a national wound registry
Due to the nature of wound care delivery, it is not uncommon for patients to receive conflicting healthcare advice from wound care professionals.
And this is not helped by a lack of accessible patient data and treatment history.
Typically, community nurses will visit patients to clean and redress wounds.
Some patients may require additional support and visit hospitals or health clinics to see wound specialists, such as vascular surgeons or tissue viability nurses.
However, different specialists can provide conflicting information and treatment recommendations, which can be frustrating for both the patients and healthcare professionals, and have negative impacts on healing outcomes.
Improved data collection is therefore required to help improve the quality and consistency of care provided to patients, and deliver more-personalised treatment plans better suited to their specific needs and medical history.
With a common approach to wound management, clinicians can understand what interventions work well, and patients are able to receive the highest level of care
This would also improve clinical research in wound care and drive the adoption of innovative medical technologies to enhance treatments.
The benefits of having access to such data have been reaped in Wales, where a national wound registry has been built to better support healthcare professionals in delivering more-efficient and timely care to wound patients and improve the quality of research in the sector.
Patients and the clinical team can work together to determine the right treatment and share healing progress and other health information such as Patient Reported Outcomes Measures (PROMs).
Mölnlycke suggests a wound registry should include a quality-of-life questionnaire to better support patients through the emotional burden of living with chronic wounds.
With a common approach to wound management, clinicians can understand what interventions work well, and patients are able to receive the highest level of care.
The role of AI in healthcare
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly-valuable tool in healthcare to automate data-heavy tasks.
Typically, patient data is reviewed and analysed by medical professionals and clinical teams to identify any patterns or anomalies – but this is a very time-consuming and labour-intensive task.
If used correctly, AI could eliminate a lot of the pain points currently facing wound care, whether that is the analysis of a patient’s medical history, data collection of a patient’s journey towards healing, or automated alerts for any causes for concern
With AI in place, a range of healthcare tasks can be made more efficient, such as data entry, analysing electronic health records, and supporting clinical decision making.
In these ways, AI can free up the time of healthcare professionals and make clinical research more efficient, enabling faster adoption of new and improved treatments into care pathways.
If used correctly, AI could eliminate a lot of the pain points currently facing wound care, whether that is the analysis of a patient’s medical history, data collection of a patient’s journey towards healing, or automated alerts for any causes for concern.
AI is already being implemented by various players in healthcare, from diagnosis to treatment recommendations.
And, in an industry struggling with workforce retention, the implementation of AI would not be introduced to replace jobs, but to support existing healthcare professionals in delivering excellent care to patients.
The future of wound care
The complexities surrounding wound care, from labour-intensive treatment and low patient adherence, to a lack of clinical data and the need for innovation, each highlight the need for a streamlined approach to tackling wounds.
With the technology available today, AI is well positioned to support healthcare systems with data collection and analysis, helping to gather valuable insights that drastically improve healthcare delivery while saving time and resources in the process.
Wound care is an area in need of innovation and, if used safely and securely, AI could prove to be a crucial element in the future of wound care that drives improved clinical research and enables the adoption of new solutions, ultimately creating a brighter future for patients and the wider healthcare system overall.
