Avoidable pressure ulcer rates in six acute UK Trusts

In 2013, Downie et al reported on results obtained from five acute UK Trusts (April 2012-March 2013) for all hospital-acquired category III–IV pressure ulcers (PUs) developed within these organisations. They described the reporting and validation methodology used by all five organisations to determine the avoidable or unavoidable status of their hospital-acquired category III–IV PUs. Prior to this publication, it was extensively cited in the literature that 95% of PUs were thought to be preventable and, therefore, ‘avoidable’ by definition (Hibbs, 1998; Arblaster, 1999; Clarkson, 2007; Stephen-Haynes, 2010). The figure of 95% of PUs are preventable originated from a comment that Hibbs made at a conference in 1988. However, Downie et al (2013) 25 years later concluded that only 43% of category III–IV PUs acquired within their organisations over a 1-year period were avoidable. In this article, the authors are reporting a second year (April 2013–March 2014) of data on hospital-acquired category III–IV PUs; with the addition of category II PUs and a sixth acute Trust’s results. Again, the percentage of category II–IV PUs classified as avoidable or unavoidable will be discussed. The article will go on to consider the implications of these findings with regard to future areas of consideration when examining avoidable PU prevention.