Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has in place to ensure diabetic foot screening within primary care returns pre-covid-19 pandemic levels.

The ‘2022/23 priorities and operational planning guidance’ asks integrated care systems (ICSs) to restore diabetes care processes to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022/23. In 2022/23, £36 million has been allocated to ICSs to support the restoration of routine diabetes care, including foot checks. Each ICS will set out its recovery activity in a one year operational plan.

In April 2022, performance-based payments for the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) were reinstated in full. Alongside other indicators promoting the management of patients with diabetes, the 2022/23 QOF includes an indicator which promotes an annual foot examination of registered patients with diabetes.