Venous leg ulcers

Introduction

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) made the following statement in 2010 with regard to appraisal of new treatments for venous leg ulcers:
"Following discussions with the Department of Health and Welsh Assembly Government, together with consultees involved in this appraisal, the Institute's Guidance Executive has decided to withdraw this topic from the Institute's technology appraisals work programme and incorporate it into the NICE clinical guidelines on wound care management."
See NICE appraisal of new treatments for venous leg ulcers.

A more recent clinical guideline was published by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) in 2010, see Management of chronic venous leg ulcers.

Some documents on this page are in PDF format. See how to access PDF files.

Updated guideline published in 2006

The nursing management of patients with venous leg ulcers. Recommendations

This guidance provides recommendations for patients with venous leg ulcers. The recommendations cover assessment, compression therapy, cleansing, debridement, dressings, skin grafts and skin replacements, contact sensitivity, therapeutic ultrasound, laser, electrotherapy, topical negative pressure and pharmacological agents, training/education and quality assurance.

Publication type: RCN Clinical guideline (Recommendations)
Publication date: September 2006 (This guideline was first published in 1998 and updated in 2005 and 2006)
Review date: See introduction above
Availability: Available only on the RCN website
The nursing management of patients with venous leg ulcers. Recommendations (PDF 2.5MB)
Appendices (31 pages) (PDF 712.30KB) The appendices include evidence tables and the Effective Health Care Bulletin ‘Compression therapy for venous leg ulcers’ (1997)
RCN publication code: 003 020.

Archived documents

The earlier guideline which was published in 1998, and the documents relating to this guideline, have now been archived and are listed below. You can find further details of the documents and availability via the RCN Library catalogue.

The management of patients with venous leg ulcers. Technical Report (1998)

Part 1 covers guideline objectives and methods of guideline development.
Part 2 covers recommendations for assessment, compression therapy, cleansing, debridement, dressing, contact sensitivity, training/education and quality assurance.
RCN publication code: 000 989.

The management of patients with venous leg ulcers. Recommendations (1998)

This guideline for the management of venous leg ulcers covers recommendations for assessment, compression therapy, cleansing, debridement, dressing, contact sensitivity, training/education and quality assurance.
RCN publication code: 000 987.

The management of patients with venous leg ulcers. Implementation guide (2000)

This guide sets out a number of techniques and practical ways to implement clinical guidelines.
RCN publication code: 001 213.

The management of patients with venous leg ulcers. Guide to involving users (2000)

This guide to patient involvement in improving venous leg ulcer services is targeted at older people who receive community-based leg ulcer treatment in their own homes, in a primary care clinic, or in a care home.
RCN publication code: 001 214.

The management of patients with venous leg ulcers. Audit protocol (2000)

This protocol was originally developed for the National Sentinel Audit management of leg ulcers. It was designed for community nurses working in leg ulcer clinics as well as home care-based practice.
RCN publication code: 001 269.