PEOPLE in Dorset are being encouraged to check their legs and feet regularly as every two hours in England someone loses a leg due to a non-healing wound.

The first national Legs Matter Awareness Week launched on Monday as part of a campaign to improve lower leg health.

An estimated 934 people had diabetic foot ulcers across Dorset in 2016-17, costing the NHS an estimated £10.6 million, and there were 313 resulting amputations.

On May 11, staff at The Best Foot Forward Leg Club and The Adam Practice in Blandford Road, Poole walked 21 miles from Lulworth Cove to Swanage, raising just over £2,000 for much-needed ‘Well Leg’ equipment.

Leg Club patient Christopher Creech, from Upton, has been having treatment for leg ulcers for the past nine years.

“It all started when I got stung on the back of one my calves. My leg was itching like hell. I thought it’d go away on its own but when I looked at my legs, they were covered in blisters. From the knee to the ankle – just covered. I’d put plasters on my legs, but the blisters would just leak through. I’d get by with the pain. It was the smell that was the problem.”

Things began to change when the 67-year-old found his local Leg Club: “It was at the local working men’s club. I’d go along every week and the nurses would dress my legs properly. They’d do it really tight. You could feel the difference.

“I’d go along the next week to get it done again and you could see that my legs were getting better.”

After regular treatment at the Leg Club, Christopher’s leg ulcers began to heal. He continues to go to the club every week to have his legs checked. Legs Matter coalition member Clare Mechen, and the dedicated nursing team, which provides clinical care to Christopher, are urging people to play their part by checking their own and others’ legs and feet for 10 possible problems, including swollen, tender legs or sores that won’t heal. They want people to get involved by holding their own ‘Legs Matter Natter’ and to take action with the ‘Legs Matter Pledge’ and by ‘Sharing Your One Big Thing’ - one important fact people wished they had known earlier about leg and foot health.

Each year, it is estimated that more than a million people in the UK suffer from serious leg and foot conditions and the resulting delays to correctly diagnose and treat them can cause unnecessary suffering, disability, amputation and even death.

Costing the NHS up to £5.3 billion annually, leg and foot ulcers, oedema (a failure of the lymphatic system), narrowing of the arteries and other serious problems need to be treated quickly and correctly to reduce the risk of non-healing wounds, secondary health problems and deteriorating health. An NHS England study estimates that having effective care early reduces leg ulcer healing times from around two years to just a few months and is 10 times cheaper. But many patients suffer unnecessarily for several years due to a lack of knowledge and not accessing the right care.

Supported by NHS England, a group of eight health care charities and not-for-profit organisations have come together to tackle the issue. As part of this, they have produced an online checklist for people, including health care professionals, to recognise the signs and symptoms of lower leg and foot problems.

Leading clinicians from The Tissue Viability Society, The British Lymphology Society, Accelerate CIC, The College of Podiatry, The Society of Vascular Nurses, The Lindsay Leg Club Foundation, Foot in Diabetes UK and The Leg Ulcer Forum have formed Legs Matter and want to ensure that anyone with a lower leg or foot problem understands their condition and gets the urgent care and support that they need.