Tissue viability nurses (TVNs) across the country are reporting that their hours are being reduced or their posts are being suspended as part of NHS attempts to cut costs.

It is worrying that those TVNs have been unable to justify their existence sufficiently to their employers to protect their jobs. Most TVNs appreciate the value of audit and how it justifies expenditure for our time and exper tise. As a result of cuts, I suspect there may be a rise in clinical incidents concerning patients due to the reduced access to TVNs or wound specialists. An audit of clinical incidents may be the evidence needed to reinstate a reduced or lost tissue viability service.