Baroness Thornton
Main Page: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Baroness Manzoor
I thank my noble friend for his support for the NHS. I hope that his new knee continues to work effectively and properly for a very long time.
Baroness Thornton (Lab)
My Lords, I have two questions for the Minister. First, many people face an amputation as a result of diabetes. What progress is the national prevention programme making in reducing the number of amputations? Secondly, the Minister will know that NHS England organised a patient survey last year. It reported that one of the biggest issues for people was getting a comfortable and timely socket fit. People expressed frustration that it was not always a get it right first time situation. That is vital, so my second question is about quality control as well as collecting data.
Baroness Manzoor
I thank the noble Baroness. NHS England invested more than £9 million of transformation funding in 2017-18 to further reduce amputation rates in people with diabetes by putting in place new and expanded multidisciplinary footcare teams. Overall, the incidence of major amputations in England is now one of the lowest internationally because of this investment. As the noble Baroness correctly said, a review was undertaken. Clinicians will look at the outcomes of that review and take the appropriate action in due course to ensure that some of the complaints made have been addressed adequately.