Charity bosses call on hospital to establish foot care team
A CHARITY has accused a hospital of failing in its duty of care for diabetic patients because it does not have a specialist foot care team.
Diabetes UK says Stafford Hospital is on a National Diabetes Inpatient Audit list of hospitals that do not have a multi-disciplinary foot care team for diabetics, despite this being recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Charity bosses say having these teams in place to ensure quick referral can help reduce the amputation rate, which is over 20 times higher than in people without the condition.
They have now written to Lyn Hill-Tout, the Chief Executive of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, to ask that appropriate systems are in place to respond to establish for service.
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Peter Shorrick, Midlands regional manager for Diabetes UK, said: "Everyone agrees that specialist hospital foot care teams are important for preventing amputations and can save the NHS money. This is why it is unacceptable that Stafford Hospital is letting down people with diabetes by still not having these provisions in place.
"By investing in a team to deliver quality access to co-ordinated foot care, the financial savings from doing fewer amputations is likely to outweigh the cost of setting one up.
"These teams have been shown to work and we need to make sure they are in place in Stafford so we can help to ensure people in Staffordshire are not unnecessarily having to go through the trauma that comes from having a foot amputated."
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