Rising to the global challenge of wound care

The data are stark. The annual cost associated with treating and managing the wounds and comorbidities of 2.2mn patients within the NHS in the UK stood at £5.3bn in 2012/13, according to the Burden of Wounds study (Guest et al, 2015). On top of this, The prevalence of wounds has been estimated to be increasing at 11% per annum (Guest et al, 2017). By this measure, the total cost of treating an estimated 3.7mn patients with a wound in 2017/18 will come in at between £8-9bn.