Healthcare solutions provider, Spirit Healthcare, has launched a select wound care range which offers a simplified solution compared to many current ranges on formulary, with catch-all products that cover a wide range of wound shapes and sizes. Available on the NHS Drug Tariff, the range dressings are suitable for both post-operative patients and those with a long-term need for wound care treatment, such as patients with ulcers or other chronic wounds. The range promises to help CCGs realise significant cost savings on current prescribing.
According to the Institute for Pressure Injury Prevention, the annual cost of wound care incurred by the average CCG in 2017 was £36.6 million and is forecast to increase steadily to £55.7 million by 2020. Data also suggest that approximately 2.2 million patients suffer from a chronic wound, with the annual cost to the NHS of managing these wounds and associated comorbidities being £5.3 billion[1]. With two-thirds of the cost incurred in the community, and wound care range products accounting for 12-15% of the total cost[2], it is clear that wound care is a significant burden – one that will likely continue to increase.
With the lack of a national wound care strategy, CCGs can face unwarranted variation[3] in the supply and use of wound care products across their service, with variation in a standardised approach to dressing choice, ordering and stock management issues.
In line with Spirit’s implementation model, CCGs adopting the range will have access to free support to review patients and help practices manage the change to ensure the CCG can quickly realise the savings. The approach, known as ‘active implementation’, has already demonstrated 700% greater savings on diabetes blood glucose strips formulary change when using active implementation[4] Training will be provided where necessary, but Spirit is confident that the simplicity of its new range will reduce the need for training and make it easy for both clinical teams and patients to use.
David Englefield, Head of Business Development, Spirit Healthcare, comments, “We saw a gap in the market for a simple, catch-all range that would work as a solution to the complexity of the current market. We know that CCGs, nurses and clinicians currently have a huge range of wound care products to choose from, often with minute differences between them. We understand that it can be challenging to manage the broad range and, with so much care being provided in the community, difficult to reduce unwarranted variation, over-ordering and waste. Our range is the antidote to that. It’s our mission is to make health easy by delivering real value in healthcare and helping to make the best use of NHS resource. Streamlining the wound care market and producing dressings that offer an easy solution for time-pressured primary care teams is part of that commitment.
“Not only is our range easy to use, it is also cost-effective. We know from our previous work with CCGs that low-cost solutions are highly valued, allowing vital resources to be redirected to where they are most needed. Our range is a quick win for CCGs that is easy to adopt and will enable them to unlock significant cost savings, which we have estimated at 30% against like-for-like products5.”
The range is available nationally and Spirit hopes that it becomes the go-to for CCGs looking for a quick, easy, cost-effective solution to wound care.
[1] Guest JF, Ayoub N, McIlwraith T et al. Health economic burden that wounds impose on the National Health Service in the UK. BMJ Open 2015; 5(12):e009283. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009283
[2] https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/full/10.12968/jowc.2017.26.6.292
[3] https://www.england.nhs.uk/atlas_case_study/procuring-for-effective-wound-management/
[4] Bury CCG, Evaluation of rationalisation of blood glucose meters project, 2015
5 Price Comparison review, data on file, Spirit Healthcare, July 2019
