The Victorian Rural Wound Management Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) is a three year project funded by the Victorian Department of Health that strengthens wound management practices in high care public sector residential aged care services (PSRACS) and district nursing services (DNS) in regional areas. 
The Loddon Mallee wound management CNC provides regional nursing staff with:

• education in wound management
• resource materials
• assistance with the development of wound related forms, policies, procedures and guidelines
• networking information
• consultancy for specific clients – see details below.

Eligible services
High care PSRACS and district nursing services in the following localities:

• Avoca, Bendigo, Boort, Castlemaine, Cohuna, Dingee, Dunolly, Echuca, Heathcote, Inglewood, Kerang, Kyabram, Kyneton, Lockington, Maldon, Manangatang, Maryborough, Mildura, Murrayville, Nyah West, Ouyen, Patchewollock, Pyramid Hill, Quambatook, Red Cliffs, Robinvale, Rochester, Rushworth, Sealake, Swan Hill or Underbool.

Consultancy service
The consultancy service may be onsite or offsite depending on needs and availability. Offsite consultancy will involve communication with nursing staff using clinical photography, email and phone communication.
Eligible wounds include those that:

• are chronic (unhealed for three months or longer)
• have underlying structures involved eg exposed connective tissue, tendons, muscle or bone
• have a cavity present
• require topical negative pressure therapy eg vacuum assisted closure (VAC)
• are, or may be malignant
• are stage three or four pressure ulcers
• may be of an unusual aetiology (eg pyoderma gangrenosum, vasculitis, calciphylaxis)
• have significant amounts of non-viable tissue (eg yellow slough or black necrosis) which may require debridement
• are less than three months old but may not heal due to comorbid conditions such as oedema, scleroderma or peripheral vascular disease.

Who can refer?

• nursing staff from eligible services
• allied health and medical staff consulting clients from eligible services.

How to refer to consultancy service:

• Fax to the referral centre – 5454 7099
• CNC referral form (distributed to eligible services, to download click here)
• or SCTT (additional information will then be requested from the service).

Fees:
Currently there is no fee for the service.
 
Location of wound CNC

• based at Bendigo Health Home Nursing Support Services
• visits are made throughout the Loddon Mallee region to eligible services and the homes of clients they visit.

Contact
 
Phone: (03) 5454 8077
lhewitt@bendigohealth.org.au  
 
Hours
Monday – Friday, 8.30am – 5.00pm
 
See Also: 

• Victorian Rural Wound Management Clinical Nurse Consultant CNC Project 
• Wound Management CNC in the Loddon-Mallee Region 
• Bendigo Health Tissue Trauma Clinic