Assessment
- Annual check of circulation, sensation and foot shape for everyone with diabetes
- Urgent same-week assessment for any new ulcer, redness or swelling
- Ankle and toe pressures and duplex ultrasound to measure blood flow
- Imaging and sampling where bone infection is suspected
Treatment principles
Care follows international guidance: relieve pressure on the wound, control infection promptly, restore arterial blood flow where it is inadequate, debride dead tissue, and manage blood sugar in parallel. Decisions are made by a team including vascular surgery, podiatry, diabetes medicine and microbiology.
Where blood flow is the limiting factor, angioplasty or bypass comes first — dressings alone will not heal an ischaemic foot.
