PROTECT NOW: A new resource for diabetes and kidney health

Diabetes and renal health are very important care and prescribing considerations for all prescribers and practice nurses. There has been a lot of new and revised information published during 2021 for health professionals about renal health, in particular relating to diabetes. New National Institute for Health and Care Excellent guidance (NICE, 2021a) for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and NICE (2021b) cardiovascular disease provide practitioners with the latest prescribing and treatment pathways for people at risk of these complications. Additional resources have recently been published by the UK Renal Association (2021a-c) about diabetes-related kidney disease and the GP Notebook (2021a) prescribing choices as well. This offers practitioners, especially practice nurses, wonderful resources to inform care approaches and safe prescribing.

The iDEAL diabetes multi-disciplinary (MDT) advocacy group, following the success of ACT NOW, are aiming to reduce the number of preventable lower limb amputations by 50% in 5 years (Edmonds et al, 2020; Edmonds et al, 2021). ACT NOW has been endorsed by Diabetes UK, JDRF, IDF Europe, D-Foot International, Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation, PCDS and the UK Diabetes Footcare Networks.