Wounds of one form or another affect a substantial proportion of the population and impose a considerable financial burden on the healthcare system. Estimates of the number of individuals affected run into the hundreds of thousands at any one time within the UK alone (Posnett and Franks, 2007). However, in the authors’ opinion, the care and management of wounds is diverse and highly variable across healthcare providers in the UK. As Edwards et al (2005) identified, many nurses have a limited knowledge of wound management. It is probable that such inconsistencies in knowledge will be reflected in a variability in practice.
