Leading clinicians, peak bodies, patient advocates and industry partners came together today to discuss the next phase of wound care reform at the launch of Wound Awareness Week (2-8 September).

Our Ambassador Professor Fiona Wood AO led a fascinating discussion on putting patients at the heart of our wound care system by investing in prevention, education and research. The event was hosted by the University of South Australia's Future Industries Institute and marked the start of our biggest ever Wound Awareness Week.

Wound Awareness Week shines a spotlight on 450,000 Australians living with chronic wounds – and those who care for them – as well as the huge financial impact of wounds on Australia's health and aged care systems of $6.6 billion a year. Today's discussion was designed to examine the problem from the perspectives of a range of stakeholders, in order to find broad-based solutions to our hidden chronic wound epidemic.

"In a wide-ranging conversation, contributors shared the latest research, innovations in technology and practice, and insights from their particular sectors that helped illuminate the broad and complex context of Australian wound care," Wounds Australia CEO Jeff Antcliff said. 

Professor Wood said: "We need people with chronic wounds to get the right diagnosis and treatment at the right time. We need the whole wound care sector to come together to make this happen."

Thank you to all who attended the roundtable and especially Professor Allison Cowin and Dr Zlatko Kopecki of the Future Industries Institute, and their teams, for hosting this event in support of Wound Awareness Week. 

Solving the epidemic

At a National Press Club address in Canberra on 3 September, Professor Wood will make the case for urgent wound care reform by launching the Wounds Australia 5 Point Plan to Solve Australia's Chronic Wound Epidemic. This valuable paper provides clear, actionable steps towards improving Australian wound care standards for more people and will be published at woundsaustralia.org at 1pm AEST on Tuesday 3 September.