What is Podiatry?
Podiatry is a specialised field dealing with the study and care of the foot and lower limb.
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Areas’ you might cover
- High risk foot – both in acute hospital and community setting eg diabetic foot
- MSK Podiatry – including paediatrics – community setting
- Prescribing and/or manufacturing of Orthotics – secondary care/community setting
- Sports medicine – private practice/some community settings
- Podiatric surgery – specialist centres
- Forensic podiatry – specialist centres
- Routine podiatry – eg footcare, advice and management, wound management - community podiatry service/private practice
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Who you might work with?
- Diabetic Foot MDT (Secondary care inc orthopaedics, vascular, diabetologist, orthotist)
- Vascular MDT (Secondary care)
- Specialist Nurses (eg vascular/diabetes both in primary and secondary care)
- Community Podiatry teams, Secondary Care podiatry teams, and Private practitioners
- GPs, Practice & Community Nurses
- Social services
- Prison Service
- Other AHPs – surgical shoe fitter/orthotist, physiotherapy, OT
- Podiatry Assistants
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Entry requirements and training
- 3 years BSc (Hons) Podiatry degree
- Pre-registration MSc course
- Apprenticeship route – currently 2 universities with approved programme
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Pay, working hours and conditions
NHS Employment – Agenda for Change banding and Ts & Cs – in clinic settings, GP surgeries, community hospitals, acute hospitals, patient’s own homes, nursing/care homes.
Private Practice – self-employed or associate practitioner – in private clinic, home visiting service, nursing/care homes
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What career opportunities do we offer locally? (both at a junior and senior level)
- Podiatrist Assistant – on the job training, assistant role to the podiatrist, can undertake basic footcare tasks.
- Newly qualified podiatrist – in the community setting
- Specialist podiatrist roles – in the community setting – area of specialism either the High Risk Foot and/or MSK Podiatry
- Advanced podiatrist – community setting
- Advanced podiatrist – secondary care – high risk diabetic foot clinics working with hospital specialist team
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