Accelerate believes Legs Matter

Together we’re transforming wound and lymphoedema care.

We’re a founding member and one of the of the eight healthcare charities and not-for-profit organisations which form the Legs Matter coalition. The Legs Matter coalition is working together to increase awareness, understanding and action about lower leg and foot conditions among patients, public and healthcare professionals.

Legs Matter gained some funding initially from it’s coalition members as well as the Urgo Foundation and is now funded by their corporate partners. The campaign operates under the governance of the Tissue Viability Society.

Why do Legs Matter? Standing up for legs and feet

Every day, thousands of people’s quality of life is devastated by the lack of support and advice on the prevention of lower leg and foot conditions and the failure to correctly diagnose and treat them.  Alongside our colleagues and Legs Matter, we’re determined to change this.

All partners in Legs Matter believe:

1. Non-healing wounds of the leg and foot are one of the biggest health challenges of our time but it is a challenge that can be solved
2. Everyone has a right to good-quality lower leg and foot care that promotes healing and reduces the risk of harm
3. We need to improve awareness, understanding and treatment of lower leg and foot conditions
4. We can achieve more by working together than we can by working alone

Why are we involved?

With our colleagues at Legs Matter, we share a vision to stop unnecessary harm and suffering for patients – here at Accelerate, we view this as preventable harm. As part of this effort, as a community interest company, we already offer services to improve physical access to exceptional care and the latest innovative thinking and education through both our Centre for Excellence & Innovation and our Academy.

Our mission is clear: we are fully committed to changing how care for leg conditions is delivered to ensure that it is driven by excellence with the patient at the heart of the decision making. Accelerate views this as preventative harm.

The cost of care

Accelerate is playing an active part in making this happen. Through our Managed Care Programme and our Dressing Optimisation Scheme, we are supporting organisations in realising the true and tangible potential of transformation and how this translates into savings in both cash terms and nursing time. At the heart of these approaches is the empowerment of healthcare professionals to lead and deliver the change they wish to see.

We are very clear on our commitment to improving the mental health and wellbeing of patients. Importantly, we are equally clear on the need to support our commissioners and providers in understanding the potential for productivity and budget efficiencies which in turn lead to better patient care and outcomes.It’s not only the mental and physical wellbeing of patients that we care about. We also want to see our healthcare services and colleagues maximise their time and budget efficiencies, which in turn leads to better patient care and outcomes. There are a  number of studies which estimate that the annual cost of managing wounds in the NHS plus the associated comorbidities at £5.3 billion (which is is comparable to the £5 billion spent on managing obesity in the NHS).

The majority of these wounds are cared for in the community and the most common type of wounds are wounds on the lower leg such as leg and foot ulcers. More than half the leg ulcers recorded in this study had no recorded diagnosis which means they are unlikely to be receiving effective care. NHS England has estimated that sub-optimal care of leg ulcers can cost up to ten times more than correctly managed care.

Embedding Legs Matter within our organisation

The drive behind Legs Matter runs through the veins of the organisation as our keen and committed clinicians, together with our patients, ensure Accelerate continues to contribute positively to this ongoing campaign.