Aim
The aim of the project is to strengthen access to care for Queenslanders with foot disease in the community and closer to home through networked evidence-based multidisciplinary models of care and partnerships.
Outcomes
Community Foot Care Hubs will:
- connect non-metropolitan healthcare providers and their patients with multidisciplinary teams located in the Metro South, Metro North, Townsville and Cairns tertiary hospitals
- provide a single point of contact to work alongside local healthcare teams who are with the patient, know the community and provide the hands-on interdisciplinary care close to home
- support local communities to navigate the continuum of care for persons with foot disease across admitted and non-admitted settings, providing streamlined escalation and de-escalation pathways to tertiary hospitals where appropriate
- be sustainable through its role in building capability and upskilling the rural and remote workforce in preventative foot care, foot disease recognition and management
- be co-designed by the local communities to ensure value based care.
Background
Diabetes-related foot disease is a leading cause of hospitalisation, amputation, and disability burden in Queensland, which have been shown to be significantly reducible with timely access to quality foot care (see references 1,2). For regional, rural and remote Queenslanders, this specialist advice is not always on hand resulting in significant variation in outcomes of hospitalisation and amputation rates.
