Foot Attack: Calls made for a national screening programme for diabetic foot disease

Fiona Davie-SmithFiona Davie-Smith, a Post Graduate Research Student in the Nursing & Health Care School at the University of Glasgow, was presenting some of her PhD work at a cross party parliamentary group in Westminster.  Her work has discovered that over 75% of amputees remain housebound after 6 months following an amputation and of these, shockingly, 67% were confined to single room living.


Press Release -
All Party Parliamentary Group on Vascular Disease

“11,500 lower limb amputations take place every year, many of which are unnecessary. This is unacceptable. Through adopting simple best practice steps, health services across the country could drastically reduce this number” stated Neil Carmichael, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Vascular Disease at the Group’s inaugural 2016 meeting.

The cost of ulceration and amputation for people with diabetes is conservatively estimated to be £640 million in England between 2010-11. Mortality rates for patients after amputation are 50% at two years, highlighting the urgent need for a national screening programme for diabetic foot disease to significantly increase early identification of this life-changing and often life-ending disease.

Strategic Clinical Network (SCN) representatives, clinicians and other stakeholders from across the country came together on Monday 1st February at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Vascular Disease’s parliamentary event. The well-attended meeting focused on reducing unnecessary lower limb amputations, particularly amputations related to peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and diabetes. Attendees agreed that there is a desperate need for a national lower limb screening programme to effectively reduce unnecessary amputation rates.

Event speakers included Fiona Davie-Smith, a Post Graduate Research Student at the University of Glasgow, whose work has discovered that over 75% of amputees remain housebound after 6 months following an amputation and of these, shockingly, 67% were confined to single room living.

Attendees also heard from Jonathan Valabhji, National Clinical Director for Obesity and Diabetes at NHS England and representatives from London SCN, Thames Valley SCN, and the Yorkshire and Humber SCN. Dr Dare Seriki, a consultant vascular radiologist from Greater Manchester, presented the Stop Unnecessary Amputations (STAMP) pathway, and encouraged adoption of such best practice methods of improving services and patient outcomes.

A national screening programme, similar to those effectively implemented for stroke and heart disease, is key to driving down the rate of lower limb amputations, which are often related to diabetes and PAD.

Concerns were raised at the meeting regarding the uncertainty of future funding for SCNs, as well as the absence of metrics to measure quality.

Mr Carmichael commented that “Strategic Clinical Networks have a key role to play promoting best practice. I encourage all those involved in the delivery of vascular services to adopt the recommendations within the Group’s latest report and improve the lives of thousands of people every year.”

The Group’s latest report reviewing the work of SCNs to tackle the effects of diabetes, namely unnecessary lower limb amputations, ‘Saving Limbs, Saving Lives: A Review of Strategic Clinical Networks’, can be found here.