Specialist wound care clinics launch in East and South Birmingham

Four new clinics to treat lower limb wounds have opened in Birmingham to provide patients with greater and more convenient access to any specialist wound care they may need.

Patients can now be referred into these specialist clinics after their wound shows no indication of healing after two weeks or has not completely healed within six weeks.

The four clinics, which are not ‘walk in’ centres, are being run by a partnership of GPs and Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust (BCHC), Tissue Viability and District Nursing as part of the wider Birmingham and Solihull (BSol) Community Care Collaborative programme (CCC) of work. Referral details for all clinics are detailed on the referral forms.

The key objective is treating lower limb wounds that are not healing. A non-healing wound is one that has not started to heal in two weeks or has not completely healed in six weeks.

Referrals into these new clinics can be made by GPs in the east and south locality only. Further clinics will be available to the other localities in the near future. Patients must be aged 17+ years, be registered with a local GP and must be able to get to the clinic.

Lorraine Galligan, Chief Nurse at BCHC and Senior Responsible Officer for developing the BSol Wound Care Programme said, ‘We are delighted to be working in greater collaboration with our local GPs. These new clinics allows patients to receive specialist treatment when they need it whilst supporting our existing tissue viability services and providing an additional pathway for GPs to refer into.”

Dr Vish Ratnasuriya, member of the Birmingham Place Committee and chair of the South Locality Wound Care Pilot Programme for the CCC, added: "We have seen increased pressure on services across Birmingham and Solihull including both General Practice and Urgent Care due to a gap in wound care service provision. With the government clearly signalling a move from hospital to the community in its future plans, it’s great to see providers collaborating to develop specialist wound care clinics in Birmingham with a focus on innovation.

“We eagerly look forward to seeing the impact for patients and the system, and the spread of specialist wound care clinics across both Birmingham and Solihull.”

Clinic location and opening times

Referral forms