Andy Sawford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Sawford on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the standard of podiatry services in the NHS.
Dr Daniel Poulter
There has been no assessment made by the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), on the standard of podiatry services in the National Health Service. Podiatrists are professionally regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and are accountable for their practice via the fitness to practise process. Registered podiatrists are required to maintain ongoing continued professional development to ensure that their clinical skills are maintained. This is a mandatory requirement by the HCPC.
Health organisations are expected to follow the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Quality Standard on diabetes requires that people with diabetes that have foot ulcers, or are at risk of developing them, have regular check-ups from a team specialising in foot protection. It also requires that people are seen and treated by a specialist healthcare team within 24 hours if they have foot problems needing urgent medical attention.
NICE guidelines recommend annual foot checks. This is included in the Quality and Outcomes Framework which incentivises general practitioners to perform and record a foot examination in people with diabetes.
NHS England also plans to launch a National Diabetes Footcare Audit in July 2014, which aims to establish the extent to which national guidelines on the management of diabetic foot disease are being met. This will provide local teams with the evidence needed to tackle any identified differences in practice which will lead in turn to an overall improvement in management and outcomes for patients.
Some elements of podiatry services are regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, all providers of regulated activities, including NHS and independent providers, have to register with CQC and meet a set of requirements of safety and quality.
