TY - JOUR T1 - GP at foot: remote ways to share management of diabetes amid the COVID-19 crisis JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 294 LP - 294 DO - 10.3399/bjgp20X710201 VL - 70 IS - 695 AU - Ruth Chambers AU - Paul Beaney AU - Gayathri Balasubramanian AU - Seyi Ogunmekan Y1 - 2020/06/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/70/695/294.abstract N2 - The rising costs of managing diabetes account for 10% of the NHS budget, roughly 1 million GBP per hour, 80% of which is spent on treating complications of poorly controlled diabetes.1 GP practices are at the forefront of healthcare services helping people to manage their health conditions; especially now with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting frontline services. Therefore, personal interactive help from smart devices with digital assistants installed, such as Alexa, could greatly aid self-care. Feedback from 20 people with diabetes in our pilot project in Staffordshire indicates that such digital assistants could help to improve dietary choices and medication adherence now, and in the future, to manage footcare.According to the Staffordshire pilot project focus group participants, current diabetic dietary advice is ‘confusing’, and ‘difficult to put into practice and maintain’. These views are supported in the broader literature2,3 and on Diabetes UK support forums.4 It is easy to understand why. … ER -