Evaluating an updated community-based pathway for patients with surgical wound dehiscence: evidence from 13 NHS centres

Background/Aims Surgical wound dehiscence is a clinical complication that continues to pose a significant problem for both acute and community services by preventing wound healing after surgery. This multicentre service evaluation aimed to assess clinical outcomes among patients following implementation of an updated pathway designed to support earlier identification and structured management of dehisced surgical wounds, incorporating PICO single-use negative pressure wound therapy (sNPWT). Methods Data were collected on 71 patients with dehisced surgical wounds from 13 NHS community care centres in England between 2022 and 2025. Clinicians in participating centres used a digital data capture platform to collect data on patient characteristics, wound area and wound volume each week from baseline up to 12 weeks, or when wound healing was achieved. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data, including median percentage wound area reductions and surgical specialty-specific outcomes. Results Complete wound healing was achieved in 73.2% ( n =52) of patients, with a median time to healing of 6 weeks among those who reached a wound area of 0.00 cm 2 . The majority of wounds were either static or deteriorating at baseline, and the cohort had a high proportion of comorbidities and risk factors. Rates of complete wound healing varied across surgical specialties, but median wound healing reductions ranged from 99.0–100.0% across all specialties. Conclusions This evaluation shows that favourable healing outcomes can be achieved when sNPWT is used within the structured pathway, even in wounds that show delayed or stalled healing at baseline. This aligns with a previous service evaluation supporting the use of defined pathways that incorporate sNPWT. Implications for practice Clinical and service leaders should ensure that community teams have access to appropriate education, assessment tools and evidence-based treatment options to support timely and effective care of patients with surgical wound dehiscence. There is a need for further comparative evaluation of the pathway approach described here in community-based post-surgical wound care.