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As of April 1st 2013 NHS Diabetes became part of NHS Improving Quality. Please direct your enquiry to enquiries@nhsiq.nhs.uk

Footcare network

The challenge

Among people with diabetes, foot complications are common. Overall, 20–40 per cent of people with diabetes are estimated to have neuropathy and about 2.5 per cent, approximately 59,000 people, are estimated to have a foot ulcer at any given time. Diabetic foot disease is estimated to account for 20 per cent of the total cost of diabetes care in the UK.

How does the footcare network support you?

NHS Diabetes will be launching a national footcare network which will work with individuals healthcare professionals and partner organisations to improve the quality of foot care services for people with diabetes across primary, community and acute settings. The network will have representation from foot care champions (typically a podiatrist and clinician) from each region in England (North, South, Midlands and London).

The network aims are:

To establish a national network of clinicians and commissioners of service to promote improvement in diabetic foot care through communication and shared learning
To support the development of systems and processes that would contribute to ongoing improvement in foot care for people with diabetes in primary, community and acute sectors.

Network objectives

The network objectives are as follows:

Clearly identify existing inequalities in care provision in different geographical and clinical settings.
Promote examples of best clinical practice and evidence based interventions to ensure that all people with diabetic foot disease receive the right treatment at the right time from appropriately skilled health care professional.
Establish a list of priorities for diabetic foot disease that address the key issues of patient safety, hospital avoidance and improved standards of care which will form a dashboard for the regional champions to benchmark and monitor service improvement.
Support the production of resources in order to implement and embed the outputs addressed in the dashboard
Develop a communication and knowledge management plan which is informed by principles of equality and non-discrimination policy and is also applicable to people with diabetes from minority ethnic groups.
Develop a simple but effective diabetes foot examination and assessment education resource that can be employed widely, for screening diabetic foot disease, within community, primary and acute care sectors: this will form part of the diabetic foot care toolkit.
Maintain active links with the National Foot Audit and use audit results to develop work programmes for improving outcomes for diabetic foot care services.
Promote cultural change in how people with diabetic foot disease are cared for in all health and care settings.