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GP surgery foot check

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Flower

Flower

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Do you get a Doppler test to check for pulse/circulation and a filament test for sensation when you have an annual foot check at a GP or do you get referred to podiatry?

I've always been to hospital podiatry as I have Charcot foot and previous foot ulcers and have never needed to see anyone at my GP surgery for a foot check. I'm paying for private podiatry as my high risk podiatry clinic is still virtual but they don't do Doppler/filament tests and as it's about 1.5 years since things were last checked and my pulses weren't great then I wondered if I could ask for these checks at my GP surgery. Thanks
 
Flower said:
Do you get a Doppler test to check for pulse/circulation and a filament test for sensation when you have an annual foot check at a GP or do you get referred to podiatry?

I've always been to hospital podiatry as I have Charcot foot and previous foot ulcers and have never needed to see anyone at my GP surgery for a foot check. I'm paying for private podiatry as my high risk podiatry clinic is still virtual but they don't do Doppler/filament tests and as it's about 1.5 years since things were last checked and my pulses weren't great then I wondered if I could ask for these checks at my GP surgery. Thanks
Click to expand...
I get a filament test with the pastry brush thingy, but the nurse feels for my pulses by hand, nothing as sophisticated as a Doppler in our surgery!
 
Once in a blue moon, they will ask me to take my shoes and socks off so they can tickle my feet with a bendy spike whilst I have my eyes closed.
Nothing more than that.
It’s not done t every annual review. Just when the nurse notices it hasn’t been done for a while.
And that’s at the hospital.
 
Same as Robin, filament but no Doppler. I was referred to Podiatry once for my Ostler's Toe (nail damaged by repeated standing-upon by horses in my younger days, growing in the wrong direction), but never for regular checks.
 
Same as @Robin for me. Just had mine done at the beginning of this month and she just checked my pulse with her hand and then did the filament test on my toes and feet and a general visual inspection of my feet for any issues.
 
Flower said:
Do you get a Doppler test to check for pulse/circulation and a filament test for sensation when you have an annual foot check at a GP or do you get referred to podiatry?

I've always been to hospital podiatry as I have Charcot foot and previous foot ulcers and have never needed to see anyone at my GP surgery for a foot check. I'm paying for private podiatry as my high risk podiatry clinic is still virtual but they don't do Doppler/filament tests and as it's about 1.5 years since things were last checked and my pulses weren't great then I wondered if I could ask for these checks at my GP surgery. Thanks
Click to expand...
Honestly, my foot checks don’t even involve taking my shoes off (genuinely, they say don’t bother you’re young your feet will be fine) so I’d probably keel over in shock if a Doppler was involved.
 
Thank you 🙂 I hoped they might do a Doppler test rather than using a pastry brush or a bendy spike with your eyes closed! I'll have to ask to be referred to my non existent clinic again!

Lucyr said:
my foot checks don’t even involve taking my shoes off
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Oh my goodness! that's so wrong to assume you're ok because you're young and have a pair of feet.😱 I was told I was too young for complications when my feet got so damaged after I was sent away from the hospital when asking for help.
 
I have a Doppler test but only as part of a private health check to sign me off for scuba diving.
I don't usually bother at my local doctors unless the nurse insists on it, as I know I'm ok.
 
Podiatry does mine, full works including pulse test with listening device, once over this was done at hospital clinic along with examination of eyes.
 
I must be one of the lucky ones as had my feet checked by my diabetes nurse at my GP surgery and had the filament and Doppler test .
 
Flower said:
Do you get a Doppler test to check for pulse/circulation and a filament test for sensation when you have an annual foot check at a GP or do you get referred to podiatry?

I've always been to hospital podiatry as I have Charcot foot and previous foot ulcers and have never needed to see anyone at my GP surgery for a foot check. I'm paying for private podiatry as my high risk podiatry clinic is still virtual but they don't do Doppler/filament tests and as it's about 1.5 years since things were last checked and my pulses weren't great then I wondered if I could ask for these checks at my GP surgery. Thanks
Click to expand...

Flower, I had a Doppler used by a private podiatrist, but couldn't comment on the NHS.

If your surgery don't have a Doppler to do the test, on the basis of your on-going issues and training, you could ask to be referred for an ultra-sonic scan. Your surgery's midwife could well have access to one?

Let's face it, the worst that can happen is they decline to help.
 
Flower said:
Thank you 🙂 I hoped they might do a Doppler test rather than using a pastry brush or a bendy spike with your eyes closed! I'll have to ask to be referred to my non existent clinic again!


Oh my goodness! that's so wrong to assume you're ok because you're young and have a pair of feet.😱 I was told I was too young for complications when my feet got so damaged after I was sent away from the hospital when asking for help.
Click to expand...
Lol in 56 years of having diabetes I have never had a foot check regarding diabetes.
Only tests done were during MS diagnoses a few years back.
 
At our surgery I have the tickle test. They don’t do the Doppler unless they are concerned.
 
Pumper_Sue said:
Lol in 56 years of having diabetes I have never had a foot check regarding diabetes.
Only tests done were during MS diagnoses a few years back.
Click to expand...

I've had one NHS one - about 6 months after diagnosis, when I had just come back from the tropics. The nurse seemed more fascinated in my suntan that my feet, but hey ho. She commented my feet were in great shape. I mentioned I'd spent the last few months barefoot, either onboard the board or on beaches etc. I thought she was going to swallow her tongue. 🙂

Just before going on that trip I had gone to a local podiatrist, as I had just been diagnosed and she did the works, including Doppler.

I just keep a close eye on things at home these days.
 
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