Category
Threshold Criteria
Topical Negative Pressure (TNP) dressings, also known as vacuum-assisted wound closure (VAC™) dressings, use vacuum assisted drainage to remove blood or serous fluid from a wound or operation site with the intention of increasing the rate of wound healing.
Current practice is to use VAC dressings in several different types of wounds including pressure ulcers, chronically infected diabetic foot wounds and post-surgical debridement wounds where wound discharge is heavy.
Eligibility
| LLR ICB will fund this dressing in the following circumstances – TNP should only be considered for the most complex wounds where other dressing methods have been tried and failed, or where other methods would place high demands on nursing time. Tissue viability nurse input on decision to use TNP should be sought where available. – All patients using TNP dressings should be monitored for improvement and patient experience. Regular audits of use should be carried out. – If patients are being discharged into the community with TNP in place the UHL Tissue Viability team refer to the community team. – The discharging hospital is responsible for providing TNP dressings and equipment for 3 days. – Community services then continue to supply as they would for other products such as wound dressings. – The first review is undertaken by a Community Nurse and Tissue Viability Nurse (TVN). Therapy will continue for at least 2 weeks then reviewed by TVN. |
| ARP 95 Review Date: 2027 |
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