Background Malignant fungating wounds (MFW) are nonhealing wounds affecting people with advanced cancer. There is currently no research evidence on who delivers care for peoples MFW in the UK and what care these professionals deliver. This survey focussed on nurses who deliver care for people with MFW to find out more about their roles and the care they deliver, and to explore perceived barriers and facilitators to delivering care for these wounds. Method An online anonymous survey was conducted among nurses who provide wound care for people with MFW across the UK. Study data were collected using Qualtrics XM software and analysed with SPSS. Result We received 154 questionnaire responses. Respondents were tissue viability nurses, community nurses and other specialist nurses. The main reported MFW-related management aims were to manage wound odour, exudate, pain and bleeding, and prevention of infection. The top-ranked treatment aim was pain management followed by odour management. The most reported antimicrobial dressing was topical silver, and the non-antimicrobial dressing was superabsorbent. Access to MFW care training is reported as a barrier to providing care to people with MFW as is a lack of local and national guidelines. Availability of dressings, access to training, and good communication processes were reported as facilitators. Conclusion This is the first study that explored MFW wound care practices in the UK. A range of nurses are involved in care delivery with variations in the treatments used. Lack of access to MFW care training, resources, and standardised guidelines may impede care delivery.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This research was funded by the United Kingdom National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

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This study was reviewed by the University of Manchester Research Ethical Committee and was confirmed that ethical approval was not required due to the routine nature of the questions and their relation to clinical practice, the routes of staff recruitment and the anonymised data collection (letter available on request).

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.