Behaviour Enhancement and Ulcer Prevention in Diabetes

Research influencing and informing everyday clinical practice to focus on the problems faced by people with diabetes and neuropathy
Woman holding feet on grass.

Our long-term aim is to translate the results from our published research to influence and inform everyday clinical practice to focus on the problems faced by people with diabetes and neuropathy.

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What is diabetic neuropathy?
Neuropathy affects 50% of people who have diabetes. Clinical signs of those affected by diabetic neuropathy include loss of feeling in the feet, lower limb muscle weakness and joint stiffness. Problems associated with these changes include increased risk of foot ulceration and subsequent amputation, reduced balance and increased incidence of falls.
Who are in the team?
The group involves researchers, podiatrists, physiotherapists, service providers and people living with diabetes. Together we apply specialist knowledge of diabetic foot self-management and screening, diabetic foot ulcer prevention and management, foot pressure analysis, orthotic and footwear design, balance problems and walking disorders, patient engagement and education.

Our research

The team has secured grants in excess of two million pounds in collaboration with industry, other universities, and the NHS.
Current studies in the portfolio include a clinical trial testing pressure data guided insoles, designing a behavioural intervention to prevent foot ulceration, testing the feasibility of exercises to reduce forefoot ulceration, using the Hope programme to reduce incidence of diabetic foot problems, early screening of diabetic peripheral neuropathy and retinopathy, designing an intervention for offloading diabetic foot problems with lymphoedema.
BEUP research team

The BEUP team

South West Clinical Schools

The South West Clinical Schools are a collaboration between the University of Plymouth and the NHS, working with nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals at all stages of their clinical and academic development.
Our work with local health services has identified the urgent need to capture improvements in patient and family outcomes, as well as ensure that existing evidence is used to best develop the research led by non-medical health professionals. To meet these needs, we have invested in clinical schools, which are professorial-led centres, in five of our local NHS trusts. The main focus for the clinical schools is to encourage health professionals to look at their practice, challenge current thinking, try out new ideas and work out ways to measure what they're doing.
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