Welsh Wound Network

Overview Welsh Wound Network? What has it done so far? What is it going to do? How to get involved?

Wounds in Wales 20 years since first national wound conference in Wales Academic interest through Dermatology, Surgery, Plastic surgery, Trauma and Orthopaedics, Pharmacy, Nursing Little concerted action or focus Little commercial activity

From then until now... Wound Healing Research Unit, 1991 now part of Department of Dermatology and Wound Healing, Cardiff University Academic groups – Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Glamorgan, UWIC, Swansea Clinical – All-Wales Tissue Viability Nurses Forum Commercial – around 30 companies, 1500 employees, £60-70 million annual contribution to the wealth of Wales

Welsh Wound Network

Why a Welsh Wound Network? Lots of activity No co-ordination Perhaps loss of opportunities for collaboration? Loss of visibility outside Wales Network seeks to maximise potential for working together and to make Wales seen as a major player in wounds worldwide

Welsh Wound Network 2007-08 September 2007, 6 months funding from Welsh Assembly Government to explore the concept Two meetings to discuss creation of the network Management team Marketing materials and web-site Publicity All done by March 2008!

Mission statement The Welsh Wound Network exists to improve the clinical care of people in Wales with wounds through; Implementation of innovative practices and interventions that are based upon high quality research Dissemination to healthcare professionals, academic colleagues, members of the public, policy makers and the bioscience industries and other stakeholders via the Welsh Wound Network web site, conferences and other events of • Information related to effective wound healing practices and innovations • Examples of all aspects of peer accepted best clinical practice in wound healing Communication to Welsh Wound Network members and non-members regarding advances in wound healing Representation of the views of Welsh Wound Network members to healthcare policy makers Evaluation of new practices and innovations through high quality collaborative research, audit and other enquiries.. Promotion of the expertise in wound healing that is available within Wales to both UK and wider audiences. Through these actions the Welsh Wound Network aims to contribute to and develop the field of wound healing.

Welsh Wound Network 2007-08 2 meetings 92 participants – 45 organisations 1st meeting – 34 organisations – academic 8, clinical 7, commercial 16, government and charity 3 SWOT analysis to guide development

What has it done so far? SWOT short-term objectives Facilitate communication Map current expertise Common contact point for network Marketing (website) Follow-up meeting

Management team Mike Clark Keith Harding Trudie Young Jane James Greg Baily Jerry Hutchinson Gwyn Tudor Sharon Thomas

Promotion

Promotion Wounds UK 2007, 2008 conference Tissue Viability Society 2008, 2009 conferences Medica 2007, 2008 Western Mail MediWales Review MediLink Review Links with UK Knowledge Transfer Networks programme

Promotion

Communication www.welshwoundnetwork.org info@welshwoundnetwork.org

What happens next? Welsh Assembly Government agreed 2 years funding of the WWN (£150,000+) Open meetings over the next two years Brokerage events (speed dating for wound healing) Newsletters Knowledge transfer – improved audit etc Encourage participation in research Build visibility for wounds in Wales

Welsh Wound Network www.welshwoundnetwork.org info@welshwoundnetwork.org