National clinician survey aims to ensure ‘consistent approach’ to reduce variations in diabetic footcare
Healthcare professionals working in footcare have been urged to complete an evaluation of local services as part of the drive to reduce variations in diabetic footcare across the country.
The English Diabetes Footcare Network has launched its online Peer Review tools after combining Peer Review questions from England’s Clinical Networks to formulate a national, comprehensive online questionnaire.
The results will enable the EDFN to identify common issues which can be addressed to improve England’s footcare services.
Respondents can give their thoughts on staff skills and knowledge, infrastructure, processes and patients, with multidisciplinary footcare teams (MDFTs) also able to comment on inpatient and outpatient services.
There are two Peer Review questionnaires – one for foot protection teams (community/primary care foot services), and one for MDFTs (secondary care services).
Consultant Podiatrist Richard Leigh, who chairs the EDFN, said: “We’re asking people to be as honest as possible in their answers so that the Peer Review can be used positively to make changes and improvements where needed, and help to shape a consistent, high-quality approach to footcare.”
The questions are available to download as a Word document from the EDFN website so that information can be sourced prior to starting the online data collection and discussed among foot protection services and multidisciplinary footcare teams.
The whole document must be completed, and it is unable to be paused or saved prior to completion, so ensure all data has been collected prior to submission.
The completed questionnaire can be saved as a PDF and shared for Peer Review with your local Network, commissioners, and other interested parties. Information will not be used in any other way, such as league tables.
The EDFN was set up, with support from the Royal College of Podiatry, to share best practice and improve consistency of care across the country.