Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle the recent increase in diabetes-related amputations.

Evidence suggests that multidisciplinary footcare teams (MDFTs) play a major role in a good diabetes footcare pathway and can significantly reduce amputations and subsequently the financial burden of diabetic foot disease.

The NHS Long Term Plan includes a commitment to “ensure that all hospitals in future provide access to MDFTs and diabetes inpatient specialist nursing teams to improve recovery and to reduce lengths of stay and future readmission rates”.

Since April 2017 NHS England has made £26 million available through the diabetes transformation funding to put in place 41 new or expanded MDFTs, reducing the risk of people with ulcers or other diabetes foot disease from having an amputation.