The role of a Diabetes and Tissue Viability Podiatrist is to provide advanced management of patients with active diabetic foot disease, working autonomously across all care settings.

A patient admitted with ‘Active’ Diabetic Foot Disease should be referred to the lower limb team, and to the Vascular team if arterial insufficiency is suspected.  A Podiatrist will review patients, carrying out a holistic assessment of circulation, neurological status and wound management.  Tissue Viability Podiatrists are available for complex wound management. Best outcomes are achieved by working together with all members of the Multidisciplinary team (MDT) as recommended in NICE 2015.  

Part of our role is to follow the patient journey from acute to community as part of the foot protection team, in line with our local health board Clinical Futures Strategy ‘Taking Care Closer to Home’.  Coordinating follow-up care with the MDT outpatient foot clinic and Joint Vascular service provided as an outpatient. 

National Audits indicate that the earlier a patient is seen by the foot protection service the better the outcome.  (National Diabetic Foot Audit 2019) 

Referral:           lower Limb Wound and Ulcerated Foot (Including diabetic foot) referral form 

E-referral:        lower.limb.wound.abb@wales.nhs.uk, HCP line for urgent queries 01495 745865

Contact email:  ABB_RiscaPodiatry@wales.nhs.uk         

All referrals are triaged within 24 hours in line with NICE standard NG19 (2015) Management of the Diabetic Foot, all patients triaged as urgent are seen within 7 days.

The Diabetic Foot clinic service runs on Mondays.  This is an MDT service provided mainly by Prof Harding, Dr Biswas and Lead Podiatrists, who link in with the Vascular and Foot and Ankle Orthopaedic Teams.