They are horrible to look at and painful if you get one but now more can be done to deal with infected leg ulcers.

For a University of Huddersfield academic who is also a frontline nurse has won funding to help spearhead a campaign to raise the profile of lower leg and feet disorders.

For the last six months Leanne Atkin has been a part of a steering group – consisting of eight healthcare organisations – formulating their manifesto for a campaign entitled Your Legs Matter, urging patients and clinicians to ‘Stand Up for Legs.’

Now Ms Atkin, who is a lecturer in the university’s Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention (ISIaIP) has been awarded funding from the Loughborough-based Urgo Foundation to launch a national campaign to ensure ailments such as leg ulcers no longer go unnoticed.

Leanne Atkin who is a Vascular Nurse Consultant for the Mid-Yorks NHS Trust.

The campaign, which will officially launch at the Tissue Viability Society annual conference in April, will actively promote high quality lower leg and foot care.

Ms Atkin said: “Leg ulcers are four times more prevalent than pressure ulcers yet there is a lack of awareness among the public of lower leg and foot conditions and the importance of seeking out the right advice and treatment.

“Most leg and foot problems can be improved and indeed prevented given the right care, especially if addressed early,” she added.

As well as conducting her own research into leg ulcers within the university’s Skin Institute alongside Professor Karen Ousey, Ms Atkins still works in practice as a Vascular Nurse Consultant for the Mid-Yorks NHS Trust.

Her methods and hard work were recently recognised by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) as she was recruited to be one of their clinical experts. In this role, she will review NICE’s peripheral artery disease guidelines and ensure their advice for experts looking after the disease continues to be the very best in clinical excellence.