Welcome to the first pressure ulcer newsletter for 2009! First of all may I wish all readers a Happy New Year and a full satisfying year ahead. Certainly 2009 is likely to be one of the 'golden years' for pressure ulcer practice and research. There is so much to look forward to in the coming months - this year will see the final versions of the new joint EPUAP-NPUAP guidelines on pressure ulcer prevention and treatment with a consistent classification of pressure ulcers across Europe and North America. The release of the new guidelines scheduled to take place initially at the NPUAP conference to be held in Washington DC over the 27th and 28th of February will probably be the single most important pressure ulcer activity over the next twelve months and marks the culmination of several years of effort by a dedicated team of over 50 pressure ulcer clinicians and researchers!

Over the first months of the year the Tissue Viability Society will have three major activities marking its 28th year of working on behalf of all professions involved in tissue viability - the new TVS guidance on seating and pressure ulcers will be released in its final format. This document has been presented at the EPUAP and EWMA conferences in 2008 providing informed feedback from colleagues across Europe. Hopefully this will be the first of many guidance documents produced by the Tissue Viability Society. The second major success for the TVS in early 2009 will be the production of a special issue of the Journal of Tissue Viability dedicated entirely to carrying full details of the Bradford wound audit - an audit that covered all wound types encountered across the population of Bradford. Across four papers the general results and methodology of the audit will be provided then full details of the number, characteristics and treatments for the pressure ulcers, leg ulcers and acute wounds encountered in the survey will be provided. This is likely to be a landmark study providing accurate information upon the epidemiology of wounds in the early years of the 21st century. The final key TVS activity in the first months of the year will be the annual TVS conference on the 27th and 28th of April 2009 in Llandudno. Perhaps the 'pressure ulcer significant' parts of the conference will be the history of patient repositioning which will finally explain where 2 hourly turning really started! The other key pressure ulcer presentation will present new research data on the links between obesity and pressure ulcer development. Are you more at risk of pressure ulcers if you are thin or fat? Perhaps being obese gives you more soft tissue to spread the effects of prolonged immobility? Come to the conference to find out the answers to these questions and more.

Michael Clark
Editor