Responsibilities
You’ll work with a variety of patients and may provide non-prescription medication for minor conditions. For more serious conditions, you may access:
- prescription medications
- orthotics (splints and braces)
- exercise therapies
- bio-mechanic/MSK assessments
- cryotherapy
- Swift
- verrucae needling
- local anaesthesia
- diabetic assessments
- specialised dressings
- nail surgery
- laser therapy for fungal nails
As a podiatrist, you’ll need to:
- assess, diagnose, treat and evaluate abnormalities and diseases related to the foot and lower limb in people of all ages
- provide treatment for high-risk patient groups such as the elderly and those with increased risk of amputation
- give advice and make referrals to other healthcare professionals as appropriate
- use therapeutic and surgical techniques to treat foot and lower leg issues (e.g. carrying out nail and soft tissue surgery using local anaesthetic)
- prescribe, produce and fit orthotics and other aids and appliances
- deliver foot health education
- understand the mechanics of the body in order to preserve, restore and develop movement
- work with people in sports to address sports-related injuries to legs and feet
- use a range of equipment including surgical instruments, dressings, orthoses, lasers, and video gait-analysis equipment.
- undertake a range of administrative tasks such as ensuring stock levels are maintained and securely stored, and that equipment is kept in good working order.
What to expect
- Work is on a one-to-one basis. Patients come from all age groups and backgrounds. They may often be children or the elderly. You will be part of a strong established podiatry team that includes senior podiatrists with specialist expertise and qualifications, experienced podiatrists and new graduate podiatrists, podiatry assistant practitioners, clinical assistants, reception and administration staff. The majority of treatments are carried out on the clinical premises but there may be occasion for outreach work or domiciliary care in patients’ homes.
- You’ll need to feel comfortable working in a high paced clinical setting.
Qualifications
- Degree in Podiatry
- Active registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the Royal College of Podiatry (RCPod) or equivalent
Skills
You’ll need to have:
- excellent communication skills, both verbal and in writing, including the ability to explain medical terminology and treatment in easy to understand language
- practical skills, including manual dexterity, to carry out treatments
- the ability to work independently and as part of our team as well as with other healthcare professionals such as doctors and nurses
- listening skills and a calm and understanding manner for dealing with patients’ concerns
- the ability to deal sensitively with patients who are anxious
- the confidence to use your initiative
- problem-solving and reasoning skills with the ability to use your own judgement
- excellent time management and organisational skills to be able to cope with a busy and varied workload
- an innovative, flexible and motivated approach to work
- good IT skills
Professional development
A requirement of maintaining your registration with the HCPC is to carry out continuing professional development (CPD) over a two-year period. You’ll need to prove you have kept your skills and knowledge up to date and will have to accurately record any CPD activities that you carry out.
Membership of relevant professional bodies provides access to a range of CPD opportunities. These can include regional and national training events, courses, seminars and conferences where you can network and share ideas with other podiatrists. We fully support ongoing training and CPD, both financially and with time allocated. All staff are encouraged with career progression and offered guidance to find their niche.
Career prospects
At Happy Feet Podiatry Services with experience and further training you can progress, and although podiatrists usually begin their career in general clinics, you may decide to specialise in a particular area of podiatry such as:
- biomechanics – perhaps focusing on sports injuries or child foot healthcare
- nail surgery
- rehabilitation or disability
- wound care and risk of infection
- dermatology
- diabetes and the high-risk patient
- rheumatology or underlying illness or condition
Happy Feet Podiatry services is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes applications from everyone irrespective of ethnic origin, disability, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, marital status or social background. We value the contribution of individual talent, skills, knowledge and experience and aim for a workforce demography representative of our local community. Appointment will be based on merit alone.
Pay: £26,500.00-£45,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Free parking
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Transport links
Work Location: In person
