Diabetes is one of the biggest health challenges facing the UK today. Diabetes is a serious condition that can lead to life-shattering complications of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation.
Disease of the foot is a complication of diabetes caused by damage to the nerves and blood vessels that serve the limbs, but worryingly one in three people with diabetes do not realise that having the condition puts them more at risk of having an amputation.
It is reported that up to 100 people a week in the UK have a limb amputated as a result of diabetes. People at highest risk are those who have a previous history of ulcers, neuropathy (nerve damage) and circulatory problems.
Active disease of the foot needs to be assessed as soon as possible by an expert team. The longer it is left untreated, the greater the risk of deterioration and loss of the limb, with all the resultant adverse effects on mobility, disfigurement, mood and independence. All ulcers should be referred to the Multidisciplinary Foot Team within 24 hours.
In 2009 Diabetes UK worked with partners to produce guidance for commissioning specialist services for the management and prevention of diabetic foot disease in hospital (PDF, 200KB). This guidance is designed to enable proper management of acute onset, or deteriorating, disease of the diabetic foot, and to prevent amputation.
This was followed in 2011 by the National Minimum Skills Framework for commissioning of footcare services for people with diabetes (PDF, 331KB), a report building on the standards defined by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 2004.
The consequences of diabetic foot disease are far reaching, and must not be ignored, so in March 2012 the Putting Feet First campaign was launched. Building on the Putting Feet First documents of 2009 and 2011, information has been produced for commissioners and those responsible for planning (PDF, 772KB); healthcare professionals responsible for screening and ongoing footcare; and the person with diabetes and their family or carer.