The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel annual conference is now only a few days away. The twelve months hard work that goes into the planning of each EPUAP conference are almost over and the fruits of the labour of the EPUAP Scientific Committee are there to see within the event's high-quality programme, this is shown below this editorial. There will be almost 400 delegates present in Birmingham at the start of September and given the reduced delegate numbers at many conferences in 2010 as spending reductions begin to bite across Western economies the high delegate numbers reflects the enduring support of clinicians and academics for a focused meeting upon a single topic in wound healing, in this case pressure ulcers.

September 2010 does appear to offer major opportunities to find out more about pressure ulceration. After the EPUAP event there will be a one-day conference upon Avoidable Pressure Ulcers to be held in Manchester on September 14th. This event offers an opportunity to find out more about three key areas -

• Measuring and monitoring pressure ulcers and the impact on quality and productivity
• Risk management approaches to eliminating avoidable pressure ulcers
• Case study experiences of eliminating avoidable pressure ulcers in practice

Two pressure ulcer conferences within a single month highlights the continued, and growing, awareness of the consequences of avoidable pressure ulcers within financially constrained health care systems. Perhaps one interesting topic for debate is just exactly what is an avoidable pressure ulcer? We have for years adopted the slogans that most pressure ulcers are preventable and at times have even placed quantitative estimates that 95% of all pressure ulcers could have been prevented. Such slogans have rarely been backed up by sound evidence and as such are campaign messages intended to stress the importance of preventive care. Gaining support for pressure ulcer preventive care was a key part of the development of pressure area care in the 1980's but now we may need greater clarity regarding which pressure ulcers could truly have been avoided. Maybe a topic for a future conference could be how does the NHS measure and report avoidable pressure ulcers?

Michael Clark PhD
Editor