NURSES from a South Gloucestershire care provider hope to go viral with a music video they have created in a bid to raise awareness of pressure ulcers.


Staff at Sirona, a not-for-profit specialist community health and social services provider in the South West with bases in Bath, North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire, have produced an innovative song raising the profile of pressure ulcers which could now become an internet sensation.


Based on the children’s song, "Heads Shoulders, Knees and Toes", "Elbows, Bottoms, Hips and Heels" has been written to highlight the actions that can be taken to prevent this uncomfortable condition.


Alison Griffiths, 47, a locality manager with Sirona who came up with the idea, said: “I was inspired to write the song by seeing and hearing stories of service users who had pressure sore damage that hadn’t been immediately picked up by staff or highlighted to us by the patient or their family.


“I felt that if we had a little tune that people could use to think about pressure area damage when visiting patients it would help as well as encouraging patients to think about what they can do to relieve the pressure and prevent avoidable injury.


“Pressure ulcers can become very painful but aren’t always when they start so patients don’tmention it; the best form of treatment is prevention.”


Mrs Griffiths wrote the lyrics and enlisted staff who gave up break and lunchtimes to record the song and video.


She added: “We came up with the name Relieving the Pressure as we’re talking about relieving damage caused by pressure ulcers but also it was such fun to do that hopefully people will also laugh, which relieves pressure and it will stick in their minds.


"We are hoping people will share the video widely via social media and really get everyone talking about pressure ulcers.”


To watch the video go to www.sirona-cic.org.uk.