The latest webinar from the EDFN will focus on a new handbook which has been produced by Diabetes Africa, Diabetes footcare in dark skin tones.

Its aim is to reduce inequity in diabetes-related footcare outcomes as a result of skin tone differences.

The webinar, which is open to any healthcare professionals working in lower limb care including GPs, hospital doctors, speciality nurses, podiatrists, tissue viability teams and community practitioners, is designed to help clinicians understand how to check for skin damage in dark skin tone.

During the webinar, delegates can expect to learn:

• How foot complications associated with diabetes might present differently in dark versus light skin tones
• Cultural considerations that might be relevant to preventing diabetes-related foot complications
• How to use the skin tone tool effectively in diagnosing and treating diabetes related foot complications
• How to use and put into practice the guidance covered in Diabetes Africa’s handbook, Diabetes footcare in dark skin tones.

Meet the speakers

Dr Bernadette Adeyileka-Tracz

Dr Adeyileka-Tracz is a registered pharmacist and the Executive Director of Diabetes Africa, a non-profit organisation with the mission of eradicating diabetes and its related diseases in people of Black, African, and African Caribbean heritage. Diabetes Africa is leading on projects not only in Africa, but also in the UK, including the Diabetes footcare in dark skin tones handbook.

Luxmi Dhoonmoon

Luxmi is a Nurse Consultant in Tissue Viability at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust. Currently enrolled on PhD in Nursing studies, Luxmi aims to develop her clinical research further to address skin tone and improve lower limb care across all settings.

After introducing the Stop the Pressure campaign across her previous NHS trust to reduce harm in care homes and reduce the safeguarding concerns regarding pressure ulcers, Luxmi is currently based in hospital settings where the drive to reduce harm from pressure ulcer, address inequity in wound care for all patients and improve patients’ outcomes from other tissue viability-related concerns remains her key focus.

Luxmi is the co-author of Diabetes Africa’s handbook, Diabetes footcare in dark skin tones.

Jayne Robbie

Jayne is a senior lecturer and course lead for the MSc in advancing practice in peripheral vascular disease at Birmingham City University, as well as a diabetes specialist podiatrist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust.

She became the first podiatrist in the West Midlands to be accepted onto the Diabetes UK Clinical Champions programme in 2019 and now sits on their Healthcare Professionals Advisory (HPA) Committee and Health Inequalities steering group.

Jayne has been pivotal in the ACT NOW campaign to raise awareness of early referral of foot problems to specialist centres to reduce amputations and was awarded Fellow of the Faculty of Podiatric Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians of Glasgow in 2022 and Fellow of the Royal College of Podiatrists in April 2023 in recognition of this work.