The summer months are now upon us and thoughts turn inevitably towards holidays in the sun and away from the everyday concerns of pressure ulcer prevention and treatment! The long-awaited World Union of Wound Healing Societies conference has now passed just over four weeks ago - after all the immediate impact has faded there will be no doubt a period of contemplation regarding the future direction and objectives of this important gathering of individuals and organisations. However there are four years to go before the next World Union conference to be held in Japan in 2012, time enough to plan and secure the future of this event.

The conference circuit came to a temporary halt after the Oxford European Wound Healing Summer School. This is an often overlooked event but one of the most pleasant and informative meetings in the wound calendar year. This year was the 12th time the four day event has been held in Oxford under the chairmanship of Dr George Cherry. Attracting an international panel of speakers and an equally diverse group of participants the Oxford Summer School allows an almost unique opportunity to gather with key experts and discuss topics informally over a relaxed programme and social events. Keep the Summer School 2009 in mind if you haven't experienced this event before, and for tyhose who have been consider coming back to renew acquaintances and see how the meeting has evolved.

The next major event will be the EPUAP conference in early September in Bruges. Go to the EPUAP web-site at www.epuap.org to find out further details and book your place at what is undoubtedly the key pressure ulcer conference in Europe this year. This year's EPUAP conference sees a strong link with the UK Tissue Viability Society for the TVS seating guidelines will be presented in their penultimate form at the EPUAP meeting. This reflects the spirit if growing collaboration between national and regional organisations with the draft TVS seating guideline recommendations also presented at the European Wound Management Association conference held a few months ago in Lisbon. The full text of the new guideline will be published in the next issue of the Journal of Tissue Viability with concurrent publication on the TVS web-site www.tvs.org.uk Next month's pressure ulcer newsletter will also provide the full text of the new guideline. All readers are invited to send comments on the draft text to a dedicated e-mail address at seat.guide@btopenworld.com. All comments will be reviewed and used to hone the final text of the guideline. Michael Clark Editor

Michael Clark
Editor