General practice and primary care: Making a difference at the coalface of wound management in Australia

Over one third of Australia's medical workforce works at the primary care level in the General Practice setting. This large component of the work force is the gate keeper for our medical system and is ideally placed to provide best evidence management to patients suffering Venous Leg Ulcers [VLUs] to improve patient well being while healing the wound. Primary care in general has the potential to achieve the goal of reducing the incidence of VLUs by 50% in 10 years. There are many challenges to achieving this goal which will be explored in this paper with suggested actions to maximise this potential.