The SIGN 116 guidelines recommend that foot screening information is recorded electronically which can be shared between all health care professionals, as stated in the Sign 116 Guideline:
‘The result of a foot screening examination should be entered onto an online screening tool, such as the Scottish Care Information – Diabetes Collaboration system (SCI-DC),(now known as SCI – Diabetes) to provide automatic risk stratification and a recommended management plan, including patient information‘.
SCI-Diabetes is being established as the national IT system for Diabetes to support individuals and diabetes managed clinical networks across NHS Scotland.
There are many advantages of using the SCI-Diabetes foot screening tool:
- To prevent duplication of effort (at present some screening data recording is carried out on systems that do not share the information with all the Health Care Professionals involved in the individuals care or is ‘paper based’ and is not easily shared)
- Any suitably trained HCP who sees the individual can carry out the foot screening using the SCI-Diabetes system
- Using SCI-Diabetes the information is recorded and stored centrally so it can be accessed by all HCP´s involved in the individual´s care who will be able to see when the last screening was carried out and what the individuals risk status was.
- When the screening information is recorded very simply the system will automatically calculate a individual´s risk status.
- Following on from automatic risk calculation there will be Recommended Action for the clinician to follow to ensure the correct pathway of care is followed.
- When the individual´s risk level has been calculated and the recommended action noted the suitable advice leaflet can be provided either from a supply or downloaded directly from the foot screening form
The SCI-Diabetes foot screening tool is not only for recording of information following the screening process it is to ensure that every individual has an assigned risk status, which they understand and know what it means for them, with their risk of developing a foot ulcer which could lead to an amputation automatically calculated. This will also ensure a suitable treatment/management plan can be implemented, according to risk, in a nationally agreed standardised way across Scotland.
The sharing of this information electronically prevents duplication, enables GP contacts to be met and to deliver the Quality strategy outlined in the Diabetes Improvement Plan: Diabetes Care in Scotland: Commitments for 2021 – 2026 [.pdf, 676MB].
