The diabetes foot care clinics in Airedale and Bradford have been praised for their excellent patient care in a national audit released last month.
Diabetes foot care is provided across Bradford and Airedale by a multi professional team, including podiatrists, nurses, specialist footwear suppliers and medical and surgical consultants, who work across the community and via hospital foot clinics.
People with diabetes are over 20 times more likely to require an amputation of a toe, foot or leg than those without diabetes.
There is an enormous personal, family and financial impact associated with these complications of diabetes.
The National Diabetes Foot Care Audit tracks a range of measures over time to assess how well services are supporting this group of people.
The results have been exceptionally good across the board, particularly in the key area of the percentage of people that are ulcer free 12 weeks after first presenting with a new foot problem.
Dr Richard Pope, Consultant Endocrinologist at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust said:
“We believe the results stem from the fact that the area has a very experienced foot care team, which works in close partnership across community and hospital settings and has strong links with local primary care services.”
“The education given to people with diabetes means they understand the importance of looking after their feet and the need to report any new foot issues as soon as they are recognised.”
Dr Pope continues:
“Many of the foot problems associated with diabetes can be prevented by taking care of one's feet and by maintaining good control of blood glucose (sugar), blood cholesterol and blood pressure - as well as not smoking.
When a foot problem develops it is important that this is assessed and treated without delay; we know that doing so reduces the chance of needing surgery and shortens the time to healing of the problem very substantially.”
Things people with diabetes can do to reduce their chance of having a foot problem include:
- Inspecting their feet daily - looking for cracks in the skin, new blisters or calluses, ulcers or signs of inflammation (heat, redness, swelling and increased pain)
- Ensuring toenails are trimmed correctly - straight across, just at the level of the end of the toe
- Only wearing well-fitting footwear, including a pressure relieving insole where possible
- Not walking barefoot
- At this time of year, never placing the feet directly on a hot water bottle, radiator or too close to a fire (as in some cases, loss of sensitivity to temperature in the feet can result in a burn, without the person realising this is happening).
- Reporting any new foot issues to your healthcare team without delay
Amanda Haywood, Podiatry Team Leader – Diabetes and Wound Care (secondary care) at Bradford District Care Trust said:
“National guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) requires acute Trusts to demonstrate that their foot clinics can respond rapidly to new referrals and each trust is measured on this.”
“Patients need to be referred within 24 hours of a new foot ulcer, and to be seen by the multi-disciplinary team within 48 hours. Both Bradford and Airedale are working very hard to achieve".
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