THE Business Office has been extremely active in a number of events
over the last few months, the main one being the organisation of
our 9th Annual Meeting in Berlin, 31 August – 2 September 2006. A
site visit with our corporate sponsors was held at the beginning of December.
There has been much interest in this meeting particularly since it is our first
event in Germany and I am sure that it will be as successful as that held in
Aberdeen, Scotland in May 2005 (see photographs on page 30).
The annual filed Charity Commission Report with our financial statement
to 31 March 2005 is printed in full detail in this issue. The financial
status of the EPUAP for that period is healthy. However, because our meeting
in Aberdeen was held after March (in May 2005) expenditures and revenue
of this event are not included, but will be in next year’s report. The
financial support from Industry at the Aberdeen meeting was excellent and
we anticipate the same will occur in Berlin in 2006.

The EPUAP recently had a stand at the Wounds UK meeting in Harrogate
which had more than one thousand attendees of health professionals in
November 2005. The stand was well attended and our educational material
was given to many of the participants, particularly the popular PUCLAS CD.
At that meeting the politics of pressure ulcers was highlighted in a symposium
sponsored by KCI. The abstracts of that session, including that by Martyn
Butcher in which he discussed the way in which the Tissue Viability Nursing
Association has been actively involved in lobbying the British Parliament in
becoming aware of chronic wound care health problems, have been published
in the KCI booklet: New Concepts in Pressure Ulcer Care for Today’s Patient
(obtainable from the EPUAP Business Office). The EPUAP has had a policy
of increasing the awareness of pressure ulcers throughout Europe and many
countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden have been successful in meeting
this goal.

The EPUAP Stand at the Wounds UK meeting in Harrogate

During 2006 the Business Office would like to have EPUAP stands at other
European wound healing meetings, and would appreciate it if individuals involved in organising these national events would contact the Business Office
if they would like EPUAP to participate in their meetings.

Lastly, the EPUAP – and particularly our members who have actively
worked on our classification system over the years – should be pleased that
NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) has accepted
the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel grading system of classification
of pressure ulcers in its recent quick reference guide, issued in September
2005, for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers. This clinical guideline
can be obtained online at: <www.nice.org.uk/CG029> or by post from:

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, Mid City Place,
71 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6NA.

Finally, the Business Office wishes EPUAP members and others involved
in the field of pressure ulcers a prosperous and productive 2006.

Dr George W. Cherry
EPUAP Business Office