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GP surgery no longer carrying out diabetic annual feet checks

Cook1e

Member
Messages
5
Location
Fleet
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Strict Diets, boring exercise such as Gym or jogging...
My GP surgery has taken the discussion to no longer carry out the annul feet checks. They now expect patients to check their own feet and to contact them if they self diagnose an issue. This seems to be laziness by the GP surgery to be honest and part of the general avoidance they seem to have in having face to face appointments with patients! Have any other Diabetics experienced a similar approach from their local GP in avoiding carrying out annual feet checks ?
 
To be honest in the 6 years since diagnosis I've only had the foot check at the surgery once.
 
My annual foot checks stopped when I was declared as in remission. I did ask the nurse at the time, and she explained it is no longer done for remission people. That was a few years ago now.
 
I’ve never had foot check done at my GP surgery but I do have regular foot checks with the podiatrist , at the local community hospital , I did have a problem a few weeks back with pains in my foot , and to be honest the service was excellent , had an appointment the next day and an x ray within 3 days , this might be because I only have 1 foot,, but if I remember correctly service was just as good when I had two
 
I'd gone in for a flu jab.
'When was your last foot check?' asked the practice nurse (daughter of one of my wife's schoolfriends)
I told her I didn't want or need one. I said it's the same every year, you have a real job finding a pulse, I'm sure the machine is knackered.
'Lie down there!!'she yelled.
So I did.
Took her 10 minutes but she found a little pulse in both feet.
She was so happy, you'd have thought she'd won the lottery.
'Right, you can go home now,' she said.
 
My podiatrist told me that GPs were supposed to be doing diabetic foot checks here a couple of years ago after I didn't get one done that year, but then the nurse at the surgery did one early this year but not properly - I now have an extra podiatry appt next week for a proper foot check (I have nerve conduction issues).
 
My GP surgery are still doing foot checks, they're quite basic though.
My hospital clinic do foot checks as part of your annual review as well, but I've only been there once and didn't need a foot check as I'd just had one at the GPs, so I'm not sure how thorough they are.
 
I haven't had a face to face and I am type 1. The head of community diabetic nurse lead services in my area points out that they have an immense back log and are under resourced so are prioritising the most urgent patients. That's not laziness it is a consequence of the policy of closing the NHS during the pandemic and of course of patients not wanting to have face to face appointments.
I suspect those that can (like me) will go privately and others who are unaware that their feet should be checked and don't do so will be lucky or end up with more serious conditions. There are many older people who can't check their own feet because they can't access them or see them!
Here is the link from DuK:
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/complications/feet/taking-care-of-your-feet
 
The other method is to get whoever you live with to blindfold you and tickle your feet with a feather plus gently prick it with drawing pins. You can see why the DSns and docs don't relish foot checks.....Why did it take her 10 minutes to find a pulse!>
 
My GP's have a very poor rep, though for what ever reason there are only three, when there should be six....
I have a full check up every year from my DN.
I can't complain.
 
I had a foot check at my GP's a couple of months ago including a doppler ultrasound check.
 
I had my foot check a couple of months ago - was phoned by surgery to make a specific appointment for it
 
No mention of it came my way, nor the eye check.

My friend in the next county has one every year.
 
Slightly different in my area, because it was the Consultant that would carry them out. But since they have moved all Consultant appointments to phone calls, no alternative arrangements have been made.

I did flag this concern to my GP, who carried out an examination himself, and said he'd carry out another (if I felt it necessary, but otherwise would wait for my Consultant to come up with something else).
 
When I have my annual eye check, a nurse also checks my feet. This is done at a primary care centre rather than the GP although at my last diabetic review at my surgery, the DN did ask if was having any issues with my feet, didn't physically check though.
 
The nurse usually does the foot check but this year it was my doctor who did it.
 
The GP practise I go to does not do diabetic feet checks, instead they give you five visits on a health care plan to a podiatrist that specialises in diabetic foot care.

After she checks my feet out she will give my toenails a trim up.

All the rest of my diabetic checks are done away from the GP's, eye tests at the optometrists, blood tests at a pathology lab.

The only thing my GP does diabetes wise is sign my NDSS subsidised test strips form, which has not been done since covid started. He did read the blood test reports, and recommended if I was to take Metformin or not.
 
I still have foot checks but to be honest I've never really understood the real need for them. There are far more important checks needed by all of us. If your HBA1C remains in good range the checks aren't needed and waste surgery time.
 
Riva_Roxaban said:
The GP practise I go to does not do diabetic feet checks, instead they give you five visits on a health care plan to a podiatrist that specialises in diabetic foot care.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I got when I lived in Australia (Sydney). But since the podiatrist found no evidence of diabetic neuropathy I just used to go for a single check up per year, no point in using resources that I didn't personally need.

I don't think my UK 91 year old dad has had a foot check since covid, which is a problem as he has foot issues (some kind of rash/itch on the top of one foor that disappears with antibiotics and then reappears). His doctor won't look at it, just prescribes over the phone. But I think his surgery is very short staffed, so they are probably prioritising their in person visits.
 
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