The management of wounds in general, and the challenge of chronic wounds and associated assessment of tissue viability in particular, represent approximately 5% of the current NHS England budget. In addition to the economic burden of wound care, the cost of treating related Health Care Associated Infections (HCAIs), particularly surgical site infections (SSIs), has been estimated to represent a further £1bn. The rise of resistant and emergent organisms, such as MRSA, related to misuse and over-use of antibiotics is another clinical area of concern. These annual costs of wound management and HCAIs are probably underestimates, but they are likely to rise with our ageing population and continuous technological advances, and theexpectation of successive governments to provide a quality NHS service for all who access health care. The area of regenerative medicine, embraced by the study of tissue viability, has the potential to provide new therapies, theranostics and Biologics involving the design and delivery of predictive small molecule research for the consumption of a wide range of end-users. The Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention (ISIaIP) places the University of Huddersfield at the forefront of research and teaching in this area.

The aim of the ISIaIP is to promote a fully integrated, complete and coordinated, applied science to clinical practice, ethos; including investigation into the function of the skin as a barrier against medications, wound dressings and antimicrobials, design and development, clinical evaluation of products and devices and exploration of quality of life indictors for patients and their significant others.

The overall vision of the Institute is to provide translational research which fundamentally improves quality of life for patients through a “bench to bedside” approach entrenched in scientifically rigorous methods with a clinical focus.