We are excited to announce that Locala has been selected as the test and evaluation site (TES) for the AHSN Network’s Transforming Wound Care Programme. This will be the first site in Yorkshire and the Humber to join the programme aiming to improve care for patients with lower limb wounds.

At Locala, we provide healthcare services tailored to meet the needs of our local communities, with a focus on improving health inequalities. We are a not-for-profit social enterprise, providing community healthcare services across Kirklees, Calderdale, Bradford, and Greater Manchester.

We are joining the programme as one of the five new TESs after a successful bid to secure funding for the improvement of lower limb wound services.

The Transforming Wound Care Programme uses the evidence, learning, and recommendations from the National Wound Care Strategy Programme. It aims to ensure all patients with lower limb wounds receive evidence-based care, tackling health inequalities and achieving:

• Faster healing of wounds
• Improved quality of life for patients
• Reduced likelihoods of wound recurrence
• More efficient use of health and care resources

Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network, in partnership with The AHSN Network, will be supporting to improve our current lower limb wound services by focussing on three main themes: people, process, and technology. These themes aim to support TESs in thinking about how training, workforce, pathways, data collection, and new innovations can help drive evidence-based patient care.

Since joining the programme, we have already supported campaigns such as Legs Matter Week with our new mobile van, which has travelled around Kirklees to increase awareness of the hidden harm crisis in the treatment of leg and foot wounds and also offer support and advice. Locala’s Wound Care Team has also been using the van to visit Huddersfield Mission, aiming to increase engagement and provide more services to the homeless and other vulnerable communities.

Find out more about where the mobile van has been and what services it has provided.

We look forward to sharing further details on our journey to improving lower limb wound services through the Transforming Wound Care Programme.