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I will say at this point that I consider it morally reprehensible for Uni's to keep training Podiatrists when there are so few opportunities in the NHS.
A quick look at the NHS jobs website shows only 8 jobs in the whole of UK.
As I see it, employment prospects are pretty bleak.
You have seen the imput for jono1351 who is actually experiencing what it is like to be trying to carve out a niche in the private sector.
If you have 2 good degrees in other subjects I am confident you would be able to becoming gainfully employed in another discipline.
The only part of the footcare market that seems to be expanding is social nailcutting. However, this area of the market is serviced by a whole plethera of unregulated practitioners who saturate the market place and only suceed in driving prices down.
This includes, in this area, ex AgeUK employees and retired district nurses doing visits at £10.00 for nail cutting .
Most nursing homes will not pay more than £8.00 a patient.
FHPs are charging £20.00 for a home visit and some travel 15 miles from other areas to their patients.
I am sure you do not want to join in this price war in order to cling to the lowest rung of the footcare market.
To jono1351, I can feel your frustration and disillusionment. I won't give you advice because when I went into business 15 years ago the market-place looked very different to what it is now.
If you have a local branch of the SCP I would make yourself known and see what help they can offer.
Good luck
regards
Catfoot
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Last edited by Catfoot : 23rd July 2012 at 03:48 AM.
Reason: additions
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good advice from george and ian and catfoot its much tougher now than back in the day people 30 years ago worked mornings for the nhs as sessional chiropodists they earned more doing sessions than i did working full time we young ones thought they were the old s*** chiropodists how wrong was i . fortunateley i am an old s**** one now. if you work in the midlands north east shropshire etc very few peeps are anywhere near 100 grand you are lucky to earn 36 on the nhs and your career is already over so you have my sympathy you graduate in debt and ther is little work but you have to have faith and vision it can be done i worked for the nhs for 15 years before i got abreak you have to grab opportunity with both hands good luck. ps you can break your balls learning to prescribe about 6 drugs and they
still wont pay you anymore but you will be able to tell your colleagues how clever you are wont that be nice.
the best advice do no training get into no debt buy single use instruments for cash cut oldies nails for 25 quid a go have no records no rules no hpc pay no tax do 4 per morning earn 500 aweek cash nice enjoy the rest of the week keep under the radar bobs yer uncle this is what you are competing with its happening its reality.i khow you are out there but nobody will ever stop you this is britain 3rd world.
hey catfoot is that practice boosting like circulation boosting
Little snipe there guys?
No matter.
Fishpod, I find your attitude astonishing, and not a little negative.
Do you really believe that having prescribing rights is of no use to the UK profession?
Catfoot.
It is neither my fault nor my responsibility that the podiatry marketplace has changed.
However, I'm always pleased to help:).
The first and only advice I will give about running a successful private practice on an open forum is to make sure you are in an area with at least (and preferably with many more) than 20,000 affluent population within a 10-mile radius.
Obviously one would assume that you know your profession and are good at what you do. This is so fundamental I'd better state it in black and white - you need to be better than your competitors (doh!).
Any Podiatrist who thinks they are good at their job after a year out of college is a misguided fool.
Just so we are clear - the HPC is safeguarding our professional standards, so I presume you are not bringing the profession into disrepute. It has nothing to do with me about how the two of you, or anyone else on this thread for that matter, run your practices, and whether they are successful or not.
I couldn't give a monkey's either way.
hey david i did not know it was you who did the courses however people are out there not registered no rules to follow so if i was young and starting out i would do it by the back door thats not bringing the profession into disrepute its just an opinion which i hold and many people are following this course into foothealth my local electrician for the past 20 years wife is now a fhp earning dosh not worrying about the hpc or any of the bull**** hey she will never worry or get disciplined i dont think she is up a nite worrying about clinical governance or data protection . i am allowed not to like the hpc it is not fit for purpose IMHO. yes i believe the prescribing rights are not worth the paper the legislation is written on and only nhs specialists will ever use the rights anyway time will be the judge
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I think you have a terrible attitude, you have no real answers to the questions and issues raised, so you respond by continually insulting me. ( re misguided fool). Once again where in any of my posts did I say I was good. stop jumping to conclusions, what I did say was that I get good feedback from my patients. I have reached a certain acceptable standard obiously or I would not have been allowed to graduate, and by the way I was allways very dedicated as a student, volunteering in the NHS clinics throughout all of the long holidays to better my skills, even though I am not foolish enough not to realise that someone who has been in the profession 10years or more will have better skills than me. But once again this is not the issue here, we are talking about lack of opportunities, and you have no real answers except to insult me. Let me tell you, You no nothing about me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by davidh
Little snipe there guys?
No matter.
Fishpod, I find your attitude astonishing, and not a little negative.
Do you really believe that having prescribing rights is of no use to the UK profession?
Catfoot.
It is neither my fault nor my responsibility that the podiatry marketplace has changed.
However, I'm always pleased to help:).
The first and only advice I will give about running a successful private practice on an open forum is to make sure you are in an area with at least (and preferably with many more) than 20,000 affluent population within a 10-mile radius.
Obviously one would assume that you know your profession and are good at what you do. This is so fundamental I'd better state it in black and white - you need to be better than your competitors (doh!).
Any Podiatrist who thinks they are good at their job after a year out of college is a misguided fool.
Just so we are clear - the HPC is safeguarding our professional standards, so I presume you are not bringing the profession into disrepute. It has nothing to do with me about how the two of you, or anyone else on this thread for that matter, run your practices, and whether they are successful or not.
I couldn't give a monkey's either way.
I think you have a terrible attitude, you have no real answers to the questions and issues raised, so you respond by continually insulting me. ( re misguided fool). Once again where in any of my posts did I say I was good. stop jumping to conclusions, what I did say was that I get good feedback from my patients. I have reached a certain acceptable standard obiously or I would not have been allowed to graduate, and by the way I was allways very dedicated as a student, volunteering in the NHS clinics throughout all of the long holidays to better my skills, even though I am not foolish enough not to realise that someone who has been in the profession 10years or more will have better skills than me. But once again this is not the issue here, we are talking about lack of opportunities, and you have no real answers except to insult me. Let me tell you, You no nothing about me.
Quote: Your post 16 on this thread - "And by the way my skills have never been an issue".
I no from your posts on this thread that you can't spell, that your attitude is negative, and that you think the profession owes you a living.
Don't agree? re-read your posts.
I suspect you are not going to contribute much to the UK Podiatry profession, but that is pure conjecture on my part.
The thread is not about lack of opportunities, It is about someone with two degrees wanting info about doing a Podiatry degree. The thread was hijacked three posts in by you and morphed into how bad the UK Podiatry scene is and how no-one can make a living any more.
I do not agree with the sentiments of your post #39. I am not going to copy and paste it in my response. If others want to be aware of your condescending attitude they can look and read it for themselves.
I have taken a different approach and contacted Jono3511 by PM. His attitude is anything but negative. The profession may be escalting one way for those in Advanced Practitioner roles but for those trying to get a foot in the door it is damned hard going.
Sometimes a little peer support is called for. I hope the Branches of SCP close to where Jono3511 resides can pull together and offer that much needed support...not just in his case but to all those recent grads from this year and last who are in the exact same situation.
I hope your Professional Body supports your struggling members a little better than you do. Your last post has done you absolutely no favours. It positively stinks.
GB
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The one thing I do agree with you about is the demographics necessary for a successful practice.
In my experience the problem is that 'practitioners' do not understand this so time and time again we see people starting up practices based on where they want to work.
In the main they fail, but at the same time they 'challenge' the existing practices, if there are only so many feet to do then every one done by a competitor is one less for the established practice.
IMO Podiatry is a crap profession to enter, it has very low status, irrespective of the 'arguable' high end practitioners and their super specialties.
Some in this thread have argued it is all about good business practice I suggest if those business skills were applied to other ventures then greater income could be achieved, tattoo artist seems quite lucrative nowadays.
Is this negativity or truthfulness?
Bob
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The one thing I do agree with you about is the demographics necessary for a successful practice.
In my experience the problem is that 'practitioners' do not understand this so time and time again we see people starting up practices based on where they want to work.
Is this negativity or truthfulness?
Bob
Bob,
The demographics necessary for a Private Practice is an obvious.
Why do Pod Schools in the UK or the SCP not teach this? no idea.
In fairness I know of no other professional bodies or private trainers teaching this either.
GB - this thread did not evolve - it was hijacked on post 3.
I have not been following this thread closely but it does seem as though its morphing into territory that we seem to have been gone over a number of times in the past. Perhaps everyone is better expending energy on something else.
Yet again we see a thread randomly closed because it involves British Podo politics.
Well here is my response to David in my opinion it is polite and constructive, if it is deleted so be it, if I am banned from the site well so be it.
David
On my degree course many years ago the cohort was made up roughly 50/50 straight from school and mature students.
I would say less than 10% had any business experience. It was only after starting the course I was made aware of the private trainers.
I have always believed that the business model for Podiatry was flawed, predominantly that there was no ethos of practices having a ‘value’ and no ‘control’ over entry into an area.
In my time I have seen the ‘big’ players come and go, Scholl, Boots, Shiropody all tried to establish a brand.
Seems like your experience was lucky it cannot have been a disadvantage having a Dad who was also a Chiropodist? The Society however has NO business acumen at all, the Institute is technically bust and the private trainers continue to pursue their self interest offering a redundancy proof opportunity!
At the same time the market place has significantly changed, NHS posts have reduced and there is downward pressure on grades. Social enterprises have been encouraged by Government, the NHS and the stupid Society to undermine the ‘bread and butter’ work of the PP pod.
If you look at the location of the posters on this thread who are positive about the ‘business’ they are from the affluent SE. Surveys have shown that their fees are not significantly higher than the general but their cost of living is much higher. So is it just footfall that makes them a good living?
So am I painting a negative picture or a true one?
Your post #14 supports much of what I have said. I do not agree that post #3 highjacked the thread, but instead I would ask Sarah why on earth she would want to get into Podiatry given her background in Biomedical science and research.
Sarah would you not be better off doing a PhD in some area of applied biomedical science, advances in that field are the future, I see few advances in Podiatry unless of course you include all of the ‘clinically proven’ products on the Pharmacy shelves to cure all of the known foot problems.
Bob
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Re: Podiatry course advice
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