What is a Leg Club?

A leg club looks at people as individuals and enables them through lots of support socially, medically, nursing to I suppose be the best that they can be. This is an absolutely fantastic model. It really brings in both the social aspects and the treatment aspects. If we don't treat the patient as a whole we have very little chance of moving them forward to a sustained period of coping and self-management. It's probably under-recognised the significance that having a leg ulcer has on the lives of people and that services like the Leg Club really helps people to become empowered that they themselves can have an active role in their own healing and in their own outcomes and they too can positively influence people around them and that oftentimes it's not about a massive amount of money it's about putting in a system of care that actually is person-centered and that meets the needs of not only individuals but the communities in which they come from as well and that collectively then they're making a big difference. It's sociable, it's friendly, it helps you realize that you're not on your own suffering with your leg ulcers. It's a community, it's a support network and it's a fantastic idea, so simple and on the flip side for the services providing it, it's a really efficient use of resources. This is a model that is about upstream thinking, it completely supports the moving forward roles of the NHS in terms of integration. It's wonderful for staff to come together to share their expertise and skill set and ultimately for the members and for the patients in the local health care economy it is just such a wonderful way of them to come and meet fellow people with leg ulcers where there's potentially a stigma and they can share their understandings together and know that there's other people in the same boat and that the model works and it's just a great concept. I would say that not only will they heal faster, they'll get the opportunity to maintain their well legs through attending leg clubs and also meet a lot of other people that have had similar problems and they can share their concerns and their feelings and support each other. I love the fact that we see patient outcomes and improvement of the patient's quality of life. I think before it ever became a requirement in inverted commas, leg clubs were creating a culture and an ethos to truly see the individual and to move away from the traditional medical model not only in the care that was delivered but by changing their lives through their social interactions. I would say that not only do you get very high quality clinical care, you get time given to you by the nurses, but you also get a wonderful social environment, opportunities to talk to lots of other people, to integrate back into society. One thing I think is underestimated is the psychological benefits for the nursing teams, particularly on the community and the district side, they don't often work with another nurse, whereas they get in a leg club and there'll be eight or ten of them potentially coming together to work on patients and then they can get a very good cross reference about, you know, they can ask for advice on what to do and it's a very, very good learning module for staff. It's teamwork, you know, if I see something I refer on, if they see something wrong with the foot they'll send them to me or to the local NHS podiatrist and we all just try and help each other because at the end of the day it's the patient who benefits and we want people to be fit and healthy so they can keep on their feet. Here is an opportunity in a simple, functional and caring way of supporting hundreds of thousands of people year on year in the communities that they come from in a cost effective way. It simply must be the way forward. It helps to empower patients, it reignites them within the community, reduces isolation and completely change their lives. So my view would be every town needs a leg club.