European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel : Review 6,2

EUROPEAN PRESSURE ULCER ADVISORY PANEL CHARITY
DIRECTORS’ REPORT AND STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
The directors, who are also trustees, present their report together
with the accounts for the period ended 31 March 2004

Review of the Business and Future Developments

The company is limited by guarantee and is a registered charity (registration number 1066856).

The charity reported net incoming resources of £12,107 for the period. Subscriptions received in advance during the period amounting to £23,575 have been carried forward.

Mission Statement
The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel’s objective is to provide for the relief of persons suffering from, or at risk of pressure ulcers, in particular through research and education of the public.

Risk Management
The trustees have identified the major risks which the charity faces and are taking steps to mitigate those risks.

Reserves Policy
It is the policy of the charity to maintain unrestricted funds, which are the free reserves of the charity, at a level which
equates to approximately six months unrestricted expenditure. This would provide sufficient funds to cover management
and administration and support costs and cover publication expenses. The trustees are researching ways to meet this objective.

Directors
The directors in office at 31 March 2004, all of whom served during the period unless otherwise stated, were:

Executive Committee:

Report of the Charity
The charity’s objective ‘to provide the relief of persons suffering from, or at risk of pressure ulcers in particular through research and education of the public’ continues to be achieved.

The Review, the Charity’s journal continues to provide a wealth of knowledge both for members and the general public who visit the EPUAP website (www.epuap.org) The Business Office continues to receive requests for information regarding pressure ulcers throughout Europe and the rest of the world. These requests are passed on by the members of the Business Office to those who have the most expertise in the particular fields. The EPUAP Guidelines on prevention and treatment are much sought after and a working group was formed in Paris in January to update these – first published in 1998.

The annual meeting was held in Tampere, Finland and built on the success of previous meetings. Reports from the working groups were given at the meeting including updates on the Pan European Pressure Ulcer Study (PEPUS), Nutritional guidelines group and the setting up of a phenomenology study group. A working party looking at the election of trustees and generally clarifying the constitution and terms of reference was set up.

A working party on Nutrition has produced guidelines for those at risk or suffering from pressure ulcers as well as in healing. These have been translated into French, German, Finnish, Flemish and Portuguese and plans are for further translations into Italian and Spanish. This work was sponsored by an educational grant from Nutricia.

The EPUAP reference book Science and Practice of Pressure Ulcer Management written by trustees and members is now in the hands of the publishers (Springer-Verlag) and will be launched at the World Union of Wound Healing Societies’ meeting in Paris in July. Sponsorship from Industry has helped to make the publication possible.

The annual meeting of the EPUAP this year will take place within the Second World Union of Wound Healing Societies meeting in Paris in July where the EPUAP is a cohost.

Many of the trustees are invited speakers, organising work shops and symposia for this great meeting. Trustees spent a working weekend in January meeting in Paris to discuss major issues affecting the panel and its members. A pressure ulcer classification project was discussed in depth following on from the CDs produced by Tom Defloor and his Group in the University of Gent for teaching purposes. These educational CDs have been distributed and well accepted throughout Europe. They are now in the process of being updated and expanded. The pressure ulcer prevalence study carried out by the EPUAP has been published as well as receiving numerous publicity through journals involved in health care. The aim of educating the public in our mission statement has been acted upon through our publicity committees as well as the Business Office circulating literature to members of the British Parliament. The awareness of pressure ulcers in general by the public has been helped by popular television programmes such as ‘Casualty’ on the BBC where in one episode the need for prevention was part of the story line. It also emphasised the need for the awareness of prevention by basic care such as providing pressure relief mattresses on trolleys.

Pressure ulcer incidence and prevalence were again discussed and a working group set up to do a pilot study on incidence for one year only.

Discussion led by Carol Dealey dealt with criteria for nominations of candidates to stand as trustees , length of tenure and the inclusion into the executive of chairs of working parties. All EPUAP members were circulated following this meeting with forms to suggest candidates. Five candidates were put forward and three (two from the Netherlands and one from Spain) met the criteria. Their election will be ratified at the annual general meeting in July at the World Union of Wound Healing Societies’ meeting in Paris. Tom Defloor was successfully elected as future president.

Throughout the year there have been general discussions on ‘definitions’ within the world on pressure ulcers and it was suggested that the NPUAP (National Pressure Ulcer Panel, USA), EPUAP and the Japanese Society should get together.

Site visits for the 2005 annual meeting were made by members of the EPUAP Business Office, the Recorder and Secretary /Treasurer to Aberdeen, Glasgow and Belfast. All sites were deemed acceptable but after much deliberation it was decided the meeting would be held in Aberdeen, on 5–7 May 2005.

The Business Office, administered by Christine Cherry, continues to work as a busy hub for the organisation of meetings, publication of the EPUAP Review, co-ordinator of working groups, dissemination of reports and a liaison with Industry for fund raising and sponsorship. It is also organising the annual meeting in Aberdeen for 2005 in which the programme and registration forms have been published as well as being available on our website.

The EPUAP has made great progress into achieving its mission, but with publicity and more public awareness the problem of pressure ulcers remains a major economic and health problem and is a long way from being solved.

This report has been prepared in accordance with special provisions of Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 relating to small companies.

28 June 2004
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD