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 steps he is taking to promote best practice in NHS podiatry services in (a) NHS England, (b) health and wellbeing boards and (c) clinical commissioning groups.
Dr Daniel Poulter
The Mandate from the Government to NHS England holds NHS England to account for improving patient care. Within NHS England, the National Clinical Director for Rehabilitation and Recovery in the Community and the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer are leading on work to improve adult rehabilitation services including collection and dissemination of best practice, which will serve to enhance the care of those with foot diseases.
NHS England is taking a number of actions to improve footcare services for people with diabetic foot disease. Some of these actions are in line with Diabetes UK’s foot campaign “Putting Feet First” while others go beyond the suggestions included in the campaign.
The actions include the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set which contains an indicator on “Complications associated with diabetes including emergency admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis and lower limb amputation”; the launch of a National Diabetes Footcare Audit scheduled for July of this year; and an NHS Improving Quality pilot project to reduce the premature mortality associated with diabetic foot disease.
