Red dot campaign aims to get people talking about pressure ulcer prevention

Nurse are being urged to help raise public awareness about pressure ulcers by wearing a red dot on their uniforms throughout winter.

Other NHS staff are also being asked to wear the red stickers and badges to encourage conversations about the prevention of pressure ulcers in hospital, care settings and in patients' homes.

The campaign was launched today by NHS Improvement (NHSI) as part of International Stop Pressure Ulcers Day.

Avoidable harm

It aims to raise awareness about the common avoidable injuries to skin and tissue which mainly affect people who are confined to a bed, chair or wheelchair.

• RELATED: Campaign to end ‘pyjama paralysis’ saves 700,000 hospital days

The initiative is an expansion of the Stop the Pressure programme, a campaign about early warning signs of ulceration which saw a 50% reduction in pressure ulcers in the NHS Midlands and East Region in the year after its launch in 2016.

However, the latest data from the NHS Safety Thermometer shows 1,300 new pressure ulcers are still reported each month, while treating pressure ulcers costs the NHS more than £1.4 million every day.

• RELATED: Preventing the development of heel pressure ulcers

Reducing complications

NHSI executive director of nursing Ruth May said: 'By focusing on more effective ways to prevent pressure damage, we can help keep patients free from pain, with reduced complications, meaning we can often reduce the time they have to spend in our care, which benefits both patients and the health service alike.'

• RELATED: Reflection accounts – Pressure ulcers

Supporters can display a red dot on their social media profile as a symbol of awareness and support and use the hashtags #StopThePressure and #StopThePressureDay.

NHSI has also sent out stickers and badges to nursing teams in trusts across the country.

Further information

• Download red dot social media resources
• Stop the Pressure campaign

In other news

• Chronic staffing shortage could jeopardise NHS long-term plan, say leading think tanks
• Shrewsbury and Telford care review: questions over deaths of 36 mothers and babies