Pressure injuries are common and costly, posing a serious health concern impacting cost of care, reimbursement and quality of life, while affecting patients, healthcare workers and healthcare authorities alike.

In the United States, annual estimates show 1.7 million patients  develop pressure injuries with associated healthcare costs of $8.5 billion. In some European countries it has been  reported that the cost of pressure injury prevention and treatment accounts for more than 1% of the total healthcare budget. This is the third largest cost incurred by healthcare providers after cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

The reporting of pressure injury prevalence and incidence throughout the  UK, Europe and USA is far from comprehensive, however, one  point that continually stands out when looking at the figures reported over the last ten years is that there has been little  change in the percentage of patients developing or presented with these wounds.