Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
People with diabetes are having their legs and feet amputated unnecessarily, according to a group of MPs and peers who have highlighted stark differences in treatment of the condition across the NHS in England.
The all-party parliamentary group on vascular disease said amputations are twice as likely for adults with diabetes in the south-west compared with London. It calls for reductions in the "stubbornly high" numbers of patients losing limbs, feet or toes.
NHS commissioners and hospitals must ensure a more consistent approach to treating conditions such as peripheral arterial disease, which affects the blood supply to muscles, and "diabetic foot" and ensure they have appropriate multi-disciplinary health teams, the report said. Its demands were backed by a senior surgeon, who warned that unnecessary amputations were being carried out because of the lack of national standards, and by the charity Diabetes UK which called present variations in treatment "unacceptable".
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/19/diabetes-unnecessary-amputations
Shocking that anyone should lose a limb unnecessarily, because they didn't get the right care
The all-party parliamentary group on vascular disease said amputations are twice as likely for adults with diabetes in the south-west compared with London. It calls for reductions in the "stubbornly high" numbers of patients losing limbs, feet or toes.
NHS commissioners and hospitals must ensure a more consistent approach to treating conditions such as peripheral arterial disease, which affects the blood supply to muscles, and "diabetic foot" and ensure they have appropriate multi-disciplinary health teams, the report said. Its demands were backed by a senior surgeon, who warned that unnecessary amputations were being carried out because of the lack of national standards, and by the charity Diabetes UK which called present variations in treatment "unacceptable".
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/19/diabetes-unnecessary-amputations
Shocking that anyone should lose a limb unnecessarily, because they didn't get the right care