Improving Diabetic Foot Care: A Guide for Commissioners
North West London
Acute and community providers, GP practices and commissioners in North West London have been working since 2017 to develop a new foot care pathway for people with diabetes.
They began with a mapping exercise to understand the services that are currently commissioned, identify gaps in the pathway, and establish priorities for improved care.
A key finding was that current pathways were confusing and that GPs often did not know where to refer patients to, contributing to delays in treatment.
Dr. Raquel Delgado is a GP in Hounslow.
NHS Transformation Funding was used to establish a footcare improvement project, as part of a wider North West London Diabetes Transformation Programme.
The project has:
• Established a diabetes foot care network of service users, providers and commissioners
• Produced an integrated service specification
• Developed a foot care dashboard to provide real-time data on care and outcomes at patient-level
• Delivered training to podiatrists and other healthcare staff
• Produced templates in GP and podiatrist information systems to assess foot risk and provide guidance on appropriate care and referral
• Created a "Know Diabetes" patient-facing website with foot care information
• Run a very successful foot care campaign in 2021 including online quizzes to educate patients and encourage use of the website
• Piloted outreach foot care sessions for hard to serve populations as part of the NHS Complete Care Communities Project
• Collaborated with the North West London digital champions project to cascade learning and increase digital inclusion
The North West London Diabetes Transformation Programme was awarded the Quality in Care 2019 award for best practice in 'Dissemination and Sustainability'.