This year the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) is celebrating its 25th anniversary and has the theme ‘Patients, Wounds, Rights’. Over the past 25 years we have all witnessed an array of changes in healthcare delivery and provision— with patients who have complex care needs being cared for in the community rather than in hospitals; the emergence of advanced nurse practitioners, specialist nurses and consultant nurses who diagnose, treat and manage patients; and a requirement for pre-registration nursing students to complete degree-level studies.