Development of a resource-use measure to capture costs of diabetic foot ulcers to the United Kingdom National Health Service, patients and society

Background: Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) add a significant burden to the lives of people with diabetes in the United Kingdom. They can have a considerable impact on a patient's daily life, with treatment requiring frequent changes of dressings and clinic attendances. Nurses and other allied health professionals (AHPs) within the community provide most wound care representing the primary cost driver.

Aims: To collaboratively explore key resource use related to the management of DFUs to develop, and pilot, a participant-reported measure to inform economic evaluations.

Methods: A literature search and semi-structured interviews determined health and non-health resource use in management of DFUs. A consensus view of the selected items was established in a modified Delphi study and further tested for acceptability and validity in a pilot study.

Results: Primary care consultations with a podiatrist or orthotist, district nurse visits, out-of-hours and emergency care, scans and investigations, and consumables provided in clinics were rated as the most important resource use items.

Conclusions: This work has informed the development of a measure that captures resource use considered important by the people most affected by DFUs; patients, family members and carers, and the healthcare professionals key to DFU management.