Stop Pressure Ulcer Day Set for November 15th

The annual ‘Stop Pressure Ulcer Day’ will occur on November 15th. It’s a day when everyone can become involved with a serious but preventable health issue that affects both old and young who have to lie or sit for long periods because they are unable to move sufficiently to prevent pressure on a part of their body. The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel is promoting this day to make people aware of this insidious problem affecting, in particular, people living in elderly care homes and who are being treated in hospitals.

The slogan is ‘Stop Pressure Ulcers’ and the day itself is supported by Sam Warburton, a Welsh rugby star. If you are interested in promoting awareness in your community you can get free publicity to use at your event sent to you via the EPUAP website at epuap.org/stop-pressure-ulcers/

This includes educational support materials, Stop Pressure Ulcers T-shirts and stickers for your event. Some of these will need to be paid for in advance. If you want flyers about the Stop Pressure Ulcers day in another language it’s available in Dutch, Portuguese, Czech, Italian, French, Danish and Finnish

The sorts of things you can do in your community could involve any of the following such as:

• hosting educational activities on the preventing and treating of pressure ulcers;
• organising an awareness raising event where you can share information with others about pressure ulcers;
• making a stand about pressure sores by reaching out to your local community and informing them about the perils and early treatment of pressure ulcers. This could be in your workplace, through a sports club or even in your local pub. No business is going to be offended if you ask if you can provide awareness materials that can be showcased to their workforce;
• making sure your town council knows about the stop pressure ulcer day so it can publicise it throughout the district.

Don’t forget to go to the Stop Pressure Ulcers social media page and not only have your say but share with friends, work colleagues and family too. You will find it at epuap.org/stop-pressure-ulcers/

In 2017, hospitals and other health institutions from around the world joined the ‘Stop Pressure Ulcer’ day.

Facts about pressure sores

Pressure sores or bed sores are avoidable but if measures aren’t taken to deal with them they can be costly to any health service to treat. It takes 25 days in an NHS hospital to treat bed sores. When the NHS started its educational campaign, in the first year alone, the east of England and the Midlands achieved a remarkable 50 percent reduction in the presence of pressure sores. The reason for this was that the campaign raised the awareness of what causes the affliction, the detection of early signs of its presence and how to prevent its occurrence through the use of the NHS Safety Thermometer and SSKIN. This early campaign resulted in motivating key staff to drive improvements in patient care in multiple care settings. It also lifted the chances of families filing personal injury claims on the basis of negligence when they either lost a relative to pressure sore or a relative was injured due to pressure sores caused by lack of care and attention by medical staff.

If you have a relative who is suffering from pressure sores due to negligent care in a care home or hospital you have the right to file a personal injury compensation claim against the person or institution that is at fault.