Taking a multidisciplinary approach to limb salvage – latest EDFN podcast
The Chair of the English Diabetes Footcare Network has said he “wants everyone to come to the party” to ensure a multidisciplinary approach when it comes to diabetic footcare.
Speaking in the latest Talking Feet podcast, Richard Leigh said he wanted the Network to include vascular surgeons, microbiologists and orthopaedic surgeons to support limb salvage. He also called for the lower limb to be treated as one organ to improve outcomes.
Mr Leigh, Consultant Podiatrist at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, said the Network was set up to become a repository for information and data gathering to inform strategy, adding: “We need to understand data better and then we can give feedback to the relevant stakeholders and lobby groups.”
Mr Leigh also discussed his concerns about the ‘slow pandemic’ – antibiotic resistance – and podiatry’s aging workforce, as well as the training opportunities being developed to provide more of a ‘ladder’ in the career structure of podiatry.
Mr Leigh chairs the Diabetes and At Risk Foot Expert Reference Group for London and the South East. He is clinical lead for NHSE (London) and co-chairs the London Foot Care Network and the Work-stream for NHSE (London) and is a Member of the London Clinical Senate Council.