Community Podiatrist

Job summary
Are you passionate about improving foot health and enhancing quality of life? Join our podiatry team and make a real difference to the lives of patients every day!

As a Community Podiatrist, you will assess and provide clearly planned podiatric care packages to patients with a variety of care needs, with the aim of maintaining independence and mobility. You will work alongside a multi-disciplinary team, collaborating with other healthcare professionals to deliver high quality, patient centred care.

Whether you're a newly registered Podiatrist or experienced practitioner, this is a fantastic opportunity to develop your skills in a supportive and forward thinking environment.

Our offer to you:

• Rotation into the acute sector as an observer in departments such as vascular and orthopaedics.
• Encouragement and support with your career progression into advanced clinical roles and leadership roles.

Our values are at the heart of everything we do, they are:

• Continuous improvement
• Accountability
• Respect
• Enthusiasm
• Support

If you share our values and want to be part of a team that makes a real difference, we want to hear from you.

Main duties of the job
You will work as part of a highly motivated team providing a high standard of clinical care in a variety of community settings, ensuring the provision of seamless care between primary and secondary care.

You will provide treatment for patients to maintain tissue viability and relieve pain; especially patients who require specialist care packages because they are at special risk due to diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and peripheral vascular disease.

About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical:

• Delivery of podiatry in clinical, domiciliary and residential home settings, usually working in isolation, always as an autonomous practitioner.
• Assessment and treatment of existing patients in line with departmental protocols using judgements involving complex facts about the patients medical conditions, current medication and podiatric needs.
• Develop treatment plans with expected outcomes and agree with patient how these outcomes may be best achieved. Provide advice to patients on foot health matters.
• Employ stringent control of cross infection and decontamination measures during daily exposure to infectious material i.e., wound/ulcer dressings, blood, pus or body fluid, unkempt dirty feet, and body and when working in less than hygienic conditions in domiciliary situations.
• Follow standard operating procedures for podiatry instrument use
• Assess for nail surgery and undertake nail surgery, supervised by a senior podiatrist. Be responsible for the administration of local analgesia, observation of the patient for adverse reaction and the administration of adrenalin in the event of the patient suffering anaphylactic shock.
• Assess for orthotics, make and provide chair-side devices, prescribe bespoke orthotics and liaise with appropriate specialist.
• Have the capability to move and handle patients who may be immobile, wheelchair or bed bound.
• Work in patients homes/residential homes in confined spaces, with poor lighting, inadequate seating, sitting in a restricted position/ over patient's bed working from a domiciliary bag. Treatment position may be restricted by non-compliance from the patients due to physical, mental or emotional debility.
• Provide health education advice including one to one advice and education to groups of peers, professionals and patients.
• Delegate appropriate patients to the care of podiatry assistants.

Leadership:

• Assist in the supervision of students, podiatry assistants and new members of staff.
• Delegate suitable patients to podiatry assistants.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Degree / Diploma in Podiatric Medicine
• Registered with the HCPC
• POM-A / LA certificate

Skills
Essential

• Excellent communication skills (written & verbal)
• Ability to utilise assessment skills and instrumentation effectively and safely
• Good time management and organisational skills
• Ability to problem solve
• Ability to identify risk and minimise risk effectively
• Ability to reflect on experience and identify lessons learnt
• IT skills appropriate to role

Knowledge
Essential

• Knowledge of local and national, professional policies/guidance
• Knowledge of own scope of practice and that of others
• Ability to apply podiatry knowledge within patient management
• The ability to demonstrate the use of evidence-based practice

Values
Essential

• Continuous improvement - committed to making improvements to our services for the benefit of all
• Accountability - taking ownership to anticipate, develop and deliver high quality care
• Respect - how we treat others in an inclusive and supportive way
• Enthusiasm - demonstrate our passion and pride for what we do and how we do it
• Support - actively supporting others with compassion and courage

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working with patients and carers in a variety of settings / situations
• Evidence of applying a person-centred approach to care

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).