Former Chairman of the LLCF David Foster: We are making a difference

Yes, the 17th, that's quite an achievement. I've only been involved for the last, I think, three. First when I was in my role as Deputy Chief Nursing Officer at the Department of Health and I came as a speaker to get engaged and understand what the foundation and the partnership with industry was about. Then more laterally as a trustee and now as chairman of the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation and I took that step because I am a nurse and I started my career in what was then called a geriatric hospital and saw a lot of elderly people and leg ulceration, which I of course wrongly assumed at the time was a natural consequence of ageing, something that was treated probably at great expense for a very great length of time with often very little effect. So having come from that position I now know things are very different and that's one of the really important things about this conference. The conference is very practical because it's based on a series of workshops but it's really engaging frontline staff with clinical experts and with our industry partners to make sure that we get an understanding of what best practice is, how we can promote best practice and the economics and viability of best practice. So it's a wide ranging set of topics, set of presentations, but actually the real focus, the most important focus that we're all here for is to make sure that leg ulceration is properly cared for and that the people who are experiencing that, are looked at as whole people, not just because of the leg ulcer, but their whole being is really important to us. And I can't emphasise that enough because people with leg ulceration tend to be socially isolated. They tend not to relate very well to people in their local community. By setting up leg clubs, you undermine some of that isolation to start with and you get very good healing rates. So all in all it's a great enterprise to be involved with and I'm very proud to be chairman.