A nurse from St Margaret’s Hospice Care is flying the flag for Somerset after being recognised at the JWC World Union of Wound Healing Societies annual awards.
Lynn Cornish, Tissue Viability Lead Practitioner, has been awarded Bronze in the Advances in Pressure Care category which was announced this week.
Lynn said: “It’s a huge honour for St Margaret’s, and for hospices in general, to be recognised among such esteemed company.”
(Pictured) Lynn Cornish
Pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores, can be a common problem for people who are confined to bed or spend long periods of time sitting in a chair or wheelchair.
St Margaret’s has achieved great success in improving the treatment and prevention of pressure ulcers over the past four years. While St Margaret’s had an average incidence of pressure ulcers, in relation to other similar organisations, between 2016 and 2019,the charity saw an 83% reduction in the number of patients developing pressure sores – with avoidable cases completely eliminated.
As the driving force behind this work, Lynn is passionate about not giving up on pressure ulcer prevention and care because patients are near the end of life - an approach she instils in hospice colleagues and other healthcare professionals.
Lynn said: “Initially we intended to improve the experience of our patients in the way we deliver wound care to make people as comfortable as possible. As a result of this, we have managed to reduce the rates of pressure ulcers and increase healing rates.
“My nursing colleagues at St Margaret’s have embraced my ideas with their usual enthusiasm and passion for the work that we do in the hospice. We have changed the way we work to benefit our patients and are, through good evidence and patient outcomes, encouraging others to change their practice too.”
Lynn, who works with the teams across St Margaret’s hospice hubs in Yeovil and Taunton, regularly shares her knowledge by writing articles and delivering training sessions. Lynn is currently bringing together hospice nursing staff from across the South West with a specialist interest together as a tissue viability group that will focus on sharing evidence and learning from each other, to optimise the best care for patients.
As part of the hospice’s role as the Project ECHO hub for Somerset, Lynn has also led video conference sessions with care homes across the county to share expertise in pressure care.
Joy Milliken, Clinical Director at St Margaret’s Hospice commented, “This international award is well deserved recognition for the work Lynn, the tissue viability link nurses and all of the staff who strive each and every day to make sure that patients are as comfortable as possible while never accepting that end of life care means that skin damage and its related discomfort is inevitable. We are incredibly proud of her and the rest of the team”.