What is the Tissue Viability Service?
Wound care is an important part of the community nursing role. When wounds don’t heal as expected, are complicated, or there are complex skin care needs, patients are referred to the Tissue Viability Service for specialist advice.

What does the Tissue Viability Service do?

• Patient assessment (looking at nutrition, pain, mobility).
• Leg ulcer assessment, including Doppler ultrasound.
• Complex wound assessment and wound management: surgical wounds, skin lesions, fungating wounds, pressure ulcers, leg ulcers,
• diabetic ulcers, traumatic wounds, burns, skin grafts.
• Clinical investigations, such as wound swabs.
• Compression bandaging or stockings.
• Advanced wound management products such as larval (maggot) therapy and topical negative pressure therapy. Pressure ulcer development risk assessment.
• Advises on the use of pressure relief equipment.
• Health promotion, such as prevention of recurrence of leg ulcers, prevention of pressure ulcer development.
• Patient and carer education and empowerment.
• Infection prevention and control advice in relation to tissue viability issues.

In addition to providing specialist advice for patients with complex tissue viability needs, the Tissue Viability Service:

• Delivers education to staff across the PCT on tissue viability and wound care.
• Acts as an information and educational resource for all professionals.
• Proactively develops and disseminates policies, protocols and clinical guidelines.
• Develops and implements clinical audit to monitor the effectiveness of current practice and to improve health outcomes.

The Tissue Viability Service is provided by a variety of staff, including tissue viability nurses, leg ulcer management nurse, lymphoedema nurse and business support officer.