HEALTH experts from around the world will descend on Birchwood tomorrow, Thursday, for a conference on diabetes.

The Centre at Birchwood Park will host the Diabetic Foot Integrated Care Conference on September 20 and 21.

Experts in the field will be visiting from as far afield as the USA and Italy in order to speak at the conference.

Tom Nicholas, consultant vascular surgeon at Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, set up the event in 2016.

He said: “We have the most prominent experts in the field coming to Warrington.

“We have three guys from the USA, three guys from the UK and one from Italy who are leaders in this field.

“It’s a fairly unique thing and we will have an audience from right across the country – it will be at full capacity.

“We’re slowly trying to get across the message that we can do better, and the only way we can do that is to get the advice of top experts in the field.”

Mr Nicholas is also hoping to raise the general public’s awareness of foot ulcers and foot attacks in diabetes patients – which can lead to them losing their limbs, or even their lives.

He added: “Like a heart attack, you can have a foot attack – this is an emergency, and if they don’t get immediate medical attention they will either lose their legs or their lives.

“The moment someone gets an ulcer they become totally immobile and they may lose their job, and the death rate is also very high.

“Unfortunately, this is one of the most significant and fatal complications among diabetes patients.

“In the UK, we are very good at baseline treatment but we haven’t been able to elevate the care – there are very few specialist centres, and in our region we have nothing.

“It’s one of the biggest consumers of health resources – £1 in every £100 is spent on a diabetic foot, it’s a massive amount of money.

“The diabetes epidemic is here.”