We ask in our care homes electronic annual return if services use the NHS Scotland Pressure Ulcer Safety Cross to monitor pressure ulcers, when people are admitted to or already living in the home.

From our most recent annual return, we are aware that just over half of care homes for adults across Scotland have implemented this tool to help record and monitor when pressure ulcers happen.

The pressure ulcer safety cross is easy to use and it only needs to be completed once a day. 

You can use the data collected to:

  • raise awareness within the team and others regarding, for example, how many pressure ulcers are acquired in your care area
  • improve patient safety
  • promote good practice (i.e. look at how many days have gone by without a new pressure ulcer occurring)
  • provide real time incidence data
  • link the data to an improvement aim.

You can access the Pressure Ulcer Safety Cross here.

The Health and Wellbeing Improvement Team are planning a webinar on this topic for care homes, supported by the National Association of Tissue Viability Nurse Specialists (Scotland).