From the 21 January 2013, the Wound Healing Centre in Eastbourne can be found at:

43 Gildredge Road
Eastbourne
East Sussex
BN21 4RY

Our telephone number remains the same – 01323 735588

Fiona Collins and Sylvie Hampton delivered workshops on pressure care issues at the recent NAEP conference.

An article sunmmarising their talks can be viewed here. It is well worth a read as it contains lots of useful information and material for anyone invoved in pressure care.

Fiona Collins at NEAP 2012

The Wound Healing Centres are hosting educational sessions for carers in the Eastbourne area on:

Date: Wednesday 10 October 2012
Venue: The Old Print Works, Wharf Road, Eastbourne, BN21 3AW
Morning session: 0900 – 1200
Afternoon session: 1300 – 1600

The aim of the day is to provide information on the prevention and management of pressure injuries and basic skin and wound care in people’s homes.

The agenda for the half day sessions is:

1.       Basic skin and wound care in the home                 Cathie Bree Aslan

 2.       Pressure Damage    – What it is            

                                       – How can it be prevented?

                                      – Practical advice for Carers     Fiona Collins and                                                                                                    Cathie Bree Aslan

 3.       Seating                  – Best Practice                         Fiona Collins

You will need to book a place as numbers are limited. To book please call Jan on 01323 735588 or email jan@woundhealingcentres.org

Oxyzyme™ is a new concept based on an old principle that the presence of oxygen is necessary for normal wound healing and this dressing enables an increase of oxygen at the wound surface. The Wound Healing Centre demonstrated the efficacy of Oxyzyme™ through a series of 10 case studies which was part of a larger national study of 67 patients.

For many years, oxygen has been given as a therapeutic modality to assist and speed wound healing (Rodriguez et al., 2008). Although the old repudiated method of ‘egg white and oxygen’ thankfully went out of fashion some 20 years ago it is still thought that oxygen alone is required to start or sustain other wound healing processes (Rodriguez et al., 2008). Certainly, topical oxygen has no detrimental effects on wounds and certainly shows beneficial indications in promoting wound healing (Kalliainen et al., 2003; Sen et al., 2002) and one study suggested that brief exposures to pure oxygen not only helped chronic intractable wounds heal faster and completely but also reduced scarring (Ohio State University, 2003).

Therefore, although Ambroise Paré (1510-1590) stated “Man may dress the wound, but only God can heal”, we are now more aware of the part that a dressing can play in providing an optimal wound healing environment to enable the wound to heal itself.

The case study presented below demonstrates how Oxyzyme helped to rapidly heal a wound that was of long duration and extremely painful.

Oxyzyme

The OXYZYME™ and IODOZYME™ dressings incorporate an advanced biochemical system which produces a low level of hydrogen peroxide, to generate iodine within the dressing. The iodine helps to create an environment hostile to bacteria and favourable for healing, although the underlying cause of disease must also be treated. Typical frequency of dressing change is every 2-3 days.

The dressings use two hydrogel layers (primary and secondary) which are bought together at point of use to initiate the biochemical reaction. When the secondary gel, which contains glucose oxidase, is placed on the primary (wound contact) gel (see schematic below), glucose diffuses into the secondary gel and the enzyme uses it, plus oxygen from the air, to generate a low level of hydrogen peroxide:

glucose + oxygen → gluconic acid + hydrogen peroxide
C6H12O6 O2 C6H12O7 H2O2

The hydrogen peroxide then diffuses into the primary (wound contact) gel, where it can react with iodide ions to produce either a low level of the antimicrobial agent iodine (OXYZYME™) or a significantly higher level (IODOZYME™) relative to OXYZYME™.

H2O2 + 2I- → 2HO- + I2

The low level of iodine in OXYZYME™ helps create an antimicrobial environment within the dressing.

The case study presented below demonstrates how Oxyzyme helped to rapidly heal a wound that was of long duration and extremely painful.

Rapdily healing wound

References
Gordillo, G.M., Sen, C.K. (2003) “Revisiting the essential role of oxygen in wound healing”. American Journal of Surgery. 186;3:259-63.
Kalliainen, L.K., Gordillo, GM., Schlanger, R., Sen, C.K. (2003) “Topical oxygen as an adjunct to wound healing: a clinical case series”. Pathophysiology 9;2:81-87.
Ohio State University (2003) “Topical Oxygen Helps Hard-To-Heal Wounds Heal Faster And Better”. ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2003) COLUMBUS, Ohio. Retrieved June 21st 2008)
Panuncialman J, Falanga V. (2007) “The science of wound bed preparation”. Clinical Plastic Surgery. 34;4:621-32
Rodriguez PG, Felix FN, Woodley DT, Shim EK. (2008) “The Role of Oxygen in Wound Healing: A Review of the Literature”. Dermatology Surgery. May 28. 621-32
Sen, C.K., Khanna, S., Gordillo, G., Bagchi, D., Bagchi, M., Roy, S. (2002) “Oxygen, Oxidants, and Antioxidants in Wound Healing An Emerging Paradigm” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 957:239-249

At the Wound Healing Centre, Honey has always been an integral part of our wound care success.

Honey has had a valued place in traditional medicine for centuries and has been used for reducing any potential of clinical infection and for accelerating wound healing. Honey has been used since ancient times and Egyptians used honey as a wound treatment as early as 3000 BC. It has also been found in Egyptian tombs and appeared to still be in good condition with normal colour, even though it was 3000 years old. The lack of deterioration, explains a great deal about the potential of honey to destroy the bacteria that would normally cause its deterioration.
Most honeys are produced from one plant, such as Manuka honey. Others may be from as many as 26 different floral sources and the difference between floral sources in the antibacterial activity is believed to be highly significant. The Manuka (or tea tree) is a small tree or shrub native to New Zealand and the southeast of Australia. It is found right throughout New Zealand and Australia. The Manuka plant has an antibacterial effect and it is thought to increase the antibacterial content of the honey and that is why we have such incredible wound healing results in the Wound Healing Centre. Also the Manuka Tea Tree has been known by the Maori for centuries for its healing properties and this healing potential and this may be another reason why the healing results in the Wound Healing Centre is so high.
The Wound Healing Centre has several types of dressings with Manuka Honey incorporated and will use this as a dressing of choice with nearly all mucky wounds.

The Wound Healing Centre in Eastbourne has won 2 national awards in recognition of its achievements. Based in Gildredge Road, the Centre was
awarded “Team of the Year” and was runner up in the “Wound Healing Category” at the Nursing in Practice awards at the NEC, Birmingham.

The Director of the Wound Healing Centre, Sylvie Hampton said “We are extremely proud and honoured for our work to have been recognised nationally. We owe this to the passion, skills and enthusiasm of our team, without whom our success would not have been possible”.

Chiropody and Podiatry Services

We now offer a range of Chiropody and Podiatry Services at the Wound Healing Centre in Gildredge Road.

The service is provided by our fully qualified Podiatrist, Richie Skinner, who is a Member of SPC and HPC registered.

The Services include:
• Advice and treatment for any foot problems
• Diabetic Foot – advice & treatment
• Nail cutting
• Common nail pathologies treated
• Corns and callus removed

Our basic nail cutting service is just £15.

Contact us for more information on this or any of our other wound healing services.

Stephen Lloyd MP visited the Wound Healing Centre in Gildredge Road, Eastbourne last week. The purpose of Stephen’s visit was to see the work that the team of clinical specialists are doing to treat people with wounds that are not healing as they should. Some wounds having been present for many years.

The Eastbourne Wound Healing Centre specialises in the prevention and management of wounds and their healing rates are among the highest in the UK, something that Eastbourne can rightly be proud of.

The team includes nurses, who specialise in healing longstanding wounds and an occupational therapist, with expertise in the prevention and management of pressure as well as and a podiatrist who maintains foot health and prevents foot ulcers. The team have detailed knowledge and experience of wound dressings and therapies.

All types of wounds are treated, including:

• leg ulcers
• pressure damage
• non-healing surgical wounds
• burns
• cancerous wounds
• Pyoderma Gangrenosum
• pilonidal sinus
• distressing skin conditions

Stephen Lloyd said:
“It was a great pleasure to visit and to meet the team at the Wound Healing Centre. In this difficult economic climate I was very impressed with the potential of the wound healing centre, not only to improve the clinical outcomes in a challenging NHS environment, but also to realise significant cost savings.

Over the last few years, I have received a number of letters from local residents who have suffered with wounds over many years and have received successful treatment from the wound healing centre.

Successful companies like the wound healing centre are vital to the future of Eastbourne. Ill do everything I can to ensure their ongoing success”.

Nicole says – “Despite the fact I was disabled all my life and fight almost every day with problems, life had offered me from time to time a reward giving me the chance to meet wonderful people. First was Vicki Pearson and her charity – Romania Connect- who brought me here and now Fiona Collins from Tissue Viability Consultancy Services Ltd and Steve Betteley Southern Mobility. I could not ask for more commitment and dedication from them both and they manage to change me from a person who had to be indoors most of the time to somebody who is able now to be in wheelchair 7 – 8 hours everyday. I don’t want anybody to know what means to live having constantly in mind the risk of pressure sores and knowing that every minute in wheelchair will be later “paid” in months of healing in bed. There are not enough words to thanks to Invacare and Helping Hands who responded to Fiona’s request to help in this project and I’m more than grateful that this joint effort has such an amazing end. Without them I never could afford to have such a great wheelchair like the one I’m using now or the cushion who sent away the risk of pressure sores. My life is now totally changed in a positive way and I will always think with love and gratitude to the people and firms I mention above who made this dream come true.

Nicole Ionescu is smiling… because she’s just taken delivery of her new wheelchair and cushion! Nicole lives Romania, where she co-ordinates a small British registered charity, Romania Connect, which assists severely disabled people to live at home, provides financial sponsorship and specialist equipment.

Nicole suffered a spinal cord injury at birth and is paraplegic. Her posture in her wheelchair is so poor that she faces to the left, a situation that has prevented her from achieving a life long ambition – to learn to drive a car.

Vicki Pearson UK co-ordinator for Romania Connect approached Fiona Collins, an Occupational Therapist at Tissue Viability Consultancy Services based in Eastbourne. Fiona is an internationally renowned seating expert, whose patients come from all over the UK and abroad.

Fiona worked in collaboration with Steve Betteley at Southern Mobility, providing their services free of charge. Nicole urgently needed a special cushion and lightweight wheelchair. Using her industry contacts Fiona was able to obtain a bespoke Starlock cushion made by the Helping Hand Company and an Invacare XLT wheelchair, free of charge.

And the result? Nicole can now sit comfortably and supported. Crucially she is now able to sit facing fully forwards, which means that at last she will be able to learn to drive! Mission accomplished!

Fiona has now agreed to visit Romania to assess more of Romania Connect’s clients; her company Tissue Viability Consultancy Services is now fund raising to pay for her flights and accommodation.

Vicki Pearson – “Fiona and Steve are utterly amazing! I cannot believe the differences they have brought about. I can’t stop looking at Nicole in her new chair with it’s new cushion.”