The South West Cardiovascular Clinical Network has won a Quality in Care Diabetes 2016 Award, for their work in improving Diabetes Footcare services in the South West.
The reduction of lower limb amputations as a result of diabetes has been a main priority of the South West (SW) Cardiovascular (CV) Strategic Clinical Network (SCN). A standardised Peer Review of foot care services for diabetes patients across all 14 acute trusts and 11 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) within the South West Clinical Network has evolved over 4 years. Its aim was to understand the variation in practice, establish compliance with NICE standards, identify and share good practice and make recommendations for change and improvement. Provisional data shows a significant reduction in the number of major amputations across the South West in 2015.
Judges comment:
“This demonstrated a good investment in staffing and it was excellent to see patient involvement via in depth interviews to give the patient perspective. There have been amazing changes in services since the audit, which has resulted in reduced amputations. Peer review of service is something to actively encourage.”
The success of the peer reviews was only made possible by over 100 peer reviewers giving up their time to take part in the visits to the 14 trusts and 11 CCGs in the South West and to the 50 patients who provided in depth interviews of their experiences. Through their clinical leadership Richard Paisey and Duncan Browne guided the review teams to deliver a number of recommendations for each of the health economies.
A big thank you to everyone involved and we share this award with all of our contributors.
Quality in Care (QiC) Diabetes 2016 is now in its sixth year, a programme that recognises, rewards and shares innovative practice demonstrating quality in diabetes management, education and services for people with diabetes and/or their families.
The South West was strongly represented with awards for the Paediatric Diabetes Team from Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for the introduction of dedicated annual review clinics for children with T1DM, and the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s Hypoglycaemia simulation training to address serious untoward incidents in hospital setting.
For more information about Quality in Care please visit the website: www.qualityincare.org
