The Sheffield Trust diabetes team identified problems and delays in the patients' footcare journey by using simple, proven service improvement techniques such as root cause analysis and process mapping.
The consultant diabetologists then led a service redesign, working with members of the footcare team to streamline the referral process.
There were a number of interventions, including the development of a simple inpatient foot screening tool and improving footcare-related patient education.
The team transformed local footcare, reducing amputation rates by 45% over three years.
The Trust has made significant financial savings and 90% of the patients that received the service rated it positively.
For the full story, visit https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Professionals/Resources/shared-practice/Footcare/ and read case study Fixing footcare in Sheffield: improving the pathway.