A systematic approach to holistic wound care is essential for the delivery of high quality wound care. Holistic wound assessment considers the whole person and should comprise the components of the generic wound assessment minimal data set. Therefore holistic assessment is key to gathering information on the patient and their wound. This information should be documented at each review so that it can act as a baseline against which wound progress can be tracked and used to guide management decisions. Inaccurate or lack of assessment can result in appropriate care and delays in healing, unnecessary patient suffering, poor outcomes and the inappropriate use of resources