The Daily Budget Battle – When today’s savings become tomorrow’s costs

Synopsis

Every day, clinicians make decisions with the best intentions for their patients, yet healthcare systems often reward short-term cost containment over long-term value creation. In wound care, this can result in fragmented pathways, product choices driven by price rather than evidence, and missed opportunities to improve outcomes while reducing the overall burden on patients and health services.

This thought-provoking session explores the tension between budgets, evidence-based practice, and patient outcomes. Sarah Sage will challenge conventional thinking around value in wound care, examining the difference between cost and price, the impact of perverse incentives, and why the way we measure value can sometimes discourage the very practices that create it.

Building on this foundation, real-world implementation data from the One More Day initiative Donna Gilleece will demonstrate how adopting evidence-based approaches can lead to faster healing, improved patient outcomes, and more efficient use of healthcare resources.

Finally, insights from hospital avoidance programs will highlight the broader system implications of wound care decisions, showing how connected pathways and early intervention can keep people well, reduce unnecessary hospital utilisation, and create value beyond the wound itself.

Join us as we explore how aligning evidence, outcomes, and economics can help move wound care from a daily budget battle to a future-focused investment in better care.

Agenda