Managing leg ulcers in a primary care setting

The number of people in the UK with wounds is increasing by 11% a year. The latest figures, 2017-2018, show that the 3.8 million people with wounds received NHS care. In that year, 89% of acute and 49% of chronic wounds had healed.

Community nurses cared for over 1 million people with leg ulcers however 664,020 of these leg ulcers will not have healed within a year.^1,2,3
Chronic wounds are defined as wounds that fail to proceed through the normal phases of wound healing in an orderly and timely manner.⁴ A wound is generally considered chronic if it has failed to heal within 4-6 weeks. Most (around 70%) of leg ulcers occur because of venous insufficiency, arterial ulcers account for about 25% of leg ulcers and around 5% of leg ulcers have both venous and arterial components and are referred to as ulcers of mixed aetiology.⁵