TWO nurses at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital have been commended for their work in helping to reduce the number of amputations experienced by renal patients with diabetes.

Tina Chance, a vascular specialist nurse for five years, and Julie Evans, a sister with 20 years' renal experience, developed a way of assessing and categorising patients' level of risk.

Julie said that the renal unit at K&C was getting renal sufferers with diabetes who had developed foot problems, often leading to amputation.

"I felt we should do something about this and I looked into it as part of a research course I was doing," Julie said.

Julie, from Rhodes Minnis, and Tina, from Stourmouth, got together with a diabetic specialist nurse and a foot specialist to see what was available.

"There were tools but we could not use them on a ward so we decided to design our own scheme," Julie said.

The system they devised uses a neuro pen for sensory testing, with other methods, to assess patients' risk levels. They are then put into different categories, the highest being those who have had previous problems.

Now every diabetic renal patient seen at K&C is tested using Tina and Julie's system.

Their work has just earned them a commended placing in the wound care category of the Nursing Standard Nurse 2003 awards.

They will receive certificates at the awards ceremony in November in London, with £500 with which they plan to buy a doppler for the renal ward a machine which picks up pulses and helps in the assessment of patients.