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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affected the care of people with chronic leg ulcers (CLUs)., Aims: To understand how people with CLUs perceived illness, health care and the public health emergency during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: Twenty people attending a wound care clinic in Northern Italy participated in semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis was conducted using the software Atlas.ti 9., Findings: Results show that most of the participants evaluated their healthcare experience as positive but differed in their perceptions of the changes brought about by the pandemic according to their varied illness experiences and perceived social support. Participants were grouped in four trajectories that provided insight into the construction of personalised support strategies for people with CLUs., Conclusion: These results may help inform healthcare interventions and policies in the care of long-term conditions such as CLUs during a widespread emergency in future.

Regardless of the amount of literature and evidence on leg ulcer management, there are still significant variations in treatment. Implementing a standardised leg ulcer pathway to ensure patients are appropriately and timely assessed could help reduce nursing time and overall costs, while improving healing outcomes and patients' quality of life. Such a pathway was introduced in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, UK, to treat venous leg ulcers (VLUs). The results showed improved healing times, reduced costs and fewer nurse visits, among other findings.

Leg ulceration represents a substantial health problem, and pain is likely to be an associated symptom. The aim of this meta-synthesis was to undertake a systematic review of qualitative studies investigating the experience of chronic painful leg ulceration. This study undertook the meta-synthesis approach described by Sandelowski and Barroso (2003), which is a synthesis and re-interpretation of the findings from several qualitative studies. Findings were extracted and synthesized. The overarching theme was that patients with chronic leg ulceration suffer from persistent pain with associated sequelae. Word descriptors used by participants also suggested that patients have neuropathic pain. In addition, findings from the meta-synthesis suggested that pain associated with chronic leg ulcer may have a neuropathic pain component. Pain associated with leg ulceration is likely to have nociceptive properties as well as neuropathic properties. If neuropathic pain is not identified and managed effectively, patients are at risk of developing a chronic pain condition with associated sequelae, such as poor sleep, depression and suicidal ideation. It is proposed that early identification and management may enable appropriate pain management which may prevent or reduce the associated risks.

The majority of patients with leg ulceration are cared for in the community. There is insufficient evidence of the numbers of these patients who are being cared for in acute hospitals. This study sought to identify the size of the problem in one acute trust by means of a point prevalence survey. From a study population of 931 patients, 17 had leg ulcers, giving a prevalence of 1.8%. Out of 52 wards and units, staff on 44 (84.6%) said that patients with leg ulcers were admitted on occasion. In the case of 19 (36.5%) wards and units this was as infrequently as one or two patients a year. The results of this survey have considerable implications for ensuring that all patients receive optimum care.