Two Community Therapists in Walsall have carried out a six month pilot project to identify a better way to support patients at high risk of developing pressure injuries or mobility issues.

This joint Therapy and Tissue Viability Service approach focused on patients aged 18 plus, many of whom had been having Community Nurse visits for a long time because of their complex health needs.

The pilot aimed to see whether integrating Nursing and Therapy care was a more effective and preventative way of supporting patients who have 24 hour positioning needs, rehabilitation needs and skin breakdown and pressure injury risks.

Some of these patients also have contractures – where there is permanent tightening of the muscles, tendons, skin, and nearby tissues that causes joints to shorten and become very stiff. This can prevent the normal movement of a joint or other part of the body.

Emma Cahill, Team Lead for Occupational Therapy at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “My colleague Annette Ellison, Team Lead for Physiotherapy, and I identified late last year the need for complex therapy input for patients in the community at risk as outlined above.

“This turned out to be huge volume of the patients that the Trust’s Community Nurses see.

“We completed a six month pilot to prove the effectiveness of a joint Therapy and Tissue Viability Service for these patients and the results were very positive.”

The work was presented at a Community Pressure Care Conference:  Advancing Preventative strategies and 24 hour positioning, hosted by Emma and Annette along with  Emma Bann, Lead Tissue Viability Specialist Nurse and Hayley Murcott, Tissue Viability Specialist Nurse.

This was a community learning event, open to all community staff with an emphasis on integrating Nursing and Therapy care for appropriate patients. Eight different companies also attended the conference, enabling further peer support, learning and networking regarding specialist equipment, products and advanced manual handling techniques which could be used for these patients. And Frontier Medical Group sponsored the event.

“We wanted to share the learning from the pilot as well as educate them on the work they can do with these groups of patients to identify and manage their risks,” added Emma.

“Our overall aim is to improve patients’ independence, functional ability and engagement in their treatment to ensure they have the best quality of life possible and to prevent long term harm and disability.”

“The majority of patients in the pilot had never had a joint Therapy and Nursing approach to holistically assess and manage their needs, which we proved to be incredibly effective and beneficial. We will continue to explore ways in which we can develop this joint service long term.”