Future of UK Podiatry

Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.

Hi guys.
i would just like to reed you thoughts on the future of podiatry!
do you think it will become more established within the medical world? i have so maney patients that dont understand fully what we do, there are two maney people who dont have a clue what we do. even some GP's dont know!
i know that we have made huge leaps and bounds over the past 20 years but do you think it will carry on at that rate, speed up or slow down?
Thank you for your time!

 

Funny world but this was being asked when i graduated in 1986!!!:bash:

We still have a split system of registered and unregistered:deadhorse:

We still have the in fighting:empathy:

We still have a profession trying to move forward but barriers still remain.

Here in Aus the Dr's are not keen on K Rudds plan for Nurse Practitioners in the community and for Nurse Prescribers. The Dr'd body has said Nurses not appropriately trained to repeat prescribe what a GP has already diagnosed and prescribed.

K Rudd wants to put money into Gp practices to employ Nurses to do the above, Gp's want the money and not the nurses.

So Ho Hum whats new.

Look at the enormous merry go round of the Health Authorites becoming Primary care Trusts with enormous management overheads leading to reduction in provision of care.

So what of the future, after 24 years of practice i have no idea other than more of the SAME:boohoo:

david

 

Maybe if we started by changing the society of chiropodists and podiatrists to simply podiatrists less confusion would be made over are job title? & hopefully more recognition would be made to the profession.

 

The FHP's would immediately take up the title of Chiropodist.:deadhorse:

Back to square ONE.:butcher:

David

 

That sounds like a good ida LucyPod! i dont know how well it would work tho!
I would love for a singal % of all the cut backs being made in the NHS to be spent on advertising for podiatrists! even if it was a few leflets put in a hairdressers or wating rooms!

i had a patient a few monts ago, i was talking to her about schools and i said what school i went to which she had heard of and it has a bit of a reputation! and she replied to me "you went to (said school) and you chose to become a chiropodist?"in a slightly demeening manner! needless to say i was a little offended by this, what botherd me the most was that she dident know the full scope of our practis and the traing we have undertaken!

I hope we as podiatrist can carry on building and developing this profession and become a little more recognised in, not only the medical world but the genreal world!
Thank you!

 

Lucypod

By dropping the title of chiropodist the Society would be doing a great disservice to those of us in private practice -it seems to me that this is a measure endorsed byt he NHS pods and newly qualified in an effort to gain more credibility. For those of us in PP, the public have known us as chiropodists and you cannot , even with the best education, get this out of their heads. Do not forget that the Society is not the only professional body for pods- other bodies would be happy to re-assign the title to the FHPs which they support. And so it will come full circle- the unregistered will be back doing chiropody as they were before grandparenting!

I can appreciate a desire to become more prestigious, but not at the expense of shooting yourself in the foot

Cornmerchant

 

Hi Zuse,

I feel sure many of us have had similar encounters & yes it is frustrating constantly explaining to the unaware of our scope of practice. However, many (if not all) professions are far more complex in their depth of knowledge than most people realise.

I have friends in different areas of medical professions. One is a therapeutic radiographer. Another is a mortuary technician. Many would believe one pushes buttons & the other cuts up dead people. The radiographer knows more about physics & mathematical equations than I can contemplate & the anatomical knowledge etc. of the mortuary tech' is amazing.

It is not only podiatry which suffers from a lack peoples awareness. Every patient you encounter shouldn't need to be impressed by your job title. Impress them with your ability to treat them skilfully using all the skills you have.

Personally I do not feel slighted (although I used to) if a patient is unaware of current training/ education in podiatry. Nor am I offended to be called a chiropodist. It is what I do.

I do not believe making the 'chiropody' title redundant will assist us in our hope for improving the understanding of what we do in the future. Moreover I honestly believe that if 'chiropody' is lost to us there will be others more than willing to collect it & use it for their own purpose.

Educate your patients. Allow them to see what your knowledge is & do not get caught up in the pettiness of 'them & us'. You are qualified therefore you are in the position to utilise the protected titles. Give one away then re-explain yet again...............................

Kind regards,

Mandy.

 

Hi Zuse,
I can completely relate to your complaint! The professions main problem, in my opinion is the lack of public knowledge about what exactly a podiatrist does and the full extent of our scope of practice! Why doesn't our the society the SCP put more effort into advertising the profession like the way in which the dentists and G.P.s and even physios have in the past?
If not the society then is there not some other way we can help advertise our profession?
:deadhorse:

 

Hi LucyPod, yes I think you have raised an excellent point. In my opinion we need to be able to distinguish ourselves from the great amount of 'alternatively trained' chiropodists. After all we have our degree in Podiatric Medicine, not Chiropody.
Our profession in in much need of some sort of a boost and I feel somehow managing to disasscociate ourselves from the other 'chiropodists' out there would be a good start!

 

By providing the best, most professional treatment you can. By being upto date with all research in your area of treatments. Word of mouth is still the best form of advertisement.

The more Pods that follow this path, the more happy patients, the greater the professional name- the more patients etc etc.

So it´s upto each individual ie as the saying goes a champion team team of champions will always win over a team of champions.

It can be hard and there will some patients that will never be happy, but be professional and provide the best treatment you can.

Sorry for jumping in a slightly Bored Australian Pod with only 4 other pods in private practice in the whole of Sweden trying to achieve the same thing as you 1000 in England.Ie better recognition by this countries medical system.

 

Hi youngpod,

I too was very confident in my newly acquired skills some time ago. I was among the new order.

Reality bites!

Real world = WE (those bearing the 'protected titles' are now one).

My opinion now is get over ourselves. Realise that now WE need to work toward a combined goal of treating patients appropriately.

If (very big IF) you give 'chiropody' away as a title you will then intentionally open patients to offering others their treatment , who may not be qualified to diagnose & treat whatever they may present with!

Your choice guys. You are our future....... :butcher:

Kind regards,

Mandy.

 

Hi Mandy,
What do you mean I once was 'very confident' in my new skills? Are you no longer confident? Yes I qualified less than a year ago but I have been exposed to a great range of different treament/branches of podiatry since qualifying! Although I certainly don't feel over confident, I am already frustrated like Zues and many of our fellow graduates, to the lack of awareness to our role and scope of practice within healthcare.
What do you mean by 'reality bites' In my opinion thats an extremly pessimistic view to share with recent graduates like ourselves. I feel that too many pods I have met seem to share this attitude and if, it remains the general consensus, then nothing will change within 'OUR' profession.
Yes we are the future and yes we can make a difference but we need support from the older more established pods like yourself to move podiatry in the UK forward.
Of course are role is to offer our patients the best possible treatment we can and indeed educate them. But it is frustrating when you are working in practice and the ignorant attitudes of some patients, like the patient Zeus is talking about, come through.
Obviously there are always going to be difficult patients but our concern is that this attitude seems too common in the U.K. We need to educate patients through other mediums apart from actual treatment times. Like for instance the large Physiotherapy campaign currently being used in conjunction with the G.A.A. in Ireland! :bash::bash:

 

Thanks for your input Michael. Yes you do have a point, word of mouth is of course the best form of advertisemnt. And I completely agree that we should all be offering our patients the most comprehensive conscientious treatment we can and indeed educate them about our profession. But as DAVOhorn notes in his previous post, nothing has changed since he qualified in 1986. Myself and (I think Zeus) are both frustrated at this lack of 'movement' within the profession. I'm probably fighting a losing battle but I would just like to see some effort to increase public awareness of Podiatry within the UK and indeed incresed awareness with regards to other healthcare professionals such as G.P.s to our role within the NHS/healthcare delivery team.

 

Hi youngpod,

I think you misread or misquoted me:

I actually said:
'I too was very confident in my newly acquired skills'

Meaning: New skills are just that. A new skill is something newly acquired . Which although taught & learned still requires honing & experience learned through years of practice at the feet (excuse the pun, not intended) of others.

New blood is welcomed. New ideas bring with them the future. Any profession which becomes closed to new ideas becomes hide bound & prevents forward momentum.

All professions require new ideas & ideals to strive to improve & progress. Only my opinion though, we should apply caution to erasing that which doesn't excite us in favour of something new & shiny.

All that glitters.............................

These 'ignorant individuals' are YOUR patients. How you educate them may well define your & my future.

Defining anyone by a title on a badge is potentially demeaning everything they have spent years achieving.

As for wasting money on ads' :

Never heard of it! So I Googled http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ga...s=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Had to complete a 2nd search: http://www.gaa.ie/content/documents...fare/Role_of_Physiotherapist_100113214804.pdf

Trust me. This is unlikely to educate anyone other than those interested in entering physiotherapy as a profession. Very educational though unlikely to capture the imagination of someone looking for assistance in seeking physiotherapy treatment. Or enlightenment into what physio' scope of practice is.

Your interaction with patients is what will change the future. What you provide, what you know & your depth of knowledge is what will change peoples understanding of what we as pods provide. Not (again only my opinion) what is printed on your badge.

Kind regards,

Mandy.

 

Ill butt out after this not being english or working in the system, but what are you doing to increase the level of awareness of Podiatry in your local area ? Are you involved in any society meetings or groups etc. If not maybe think small get a working group of like minded Pods and get info to all othe medical groups in your area etc.

 

Youngpod

Whilst I applaud your enthusiasm, may I just offer a word of advice if you are not to alienate all those pods with just a little more experience than you- listen to what other pods are saying. You remark that we all have a pessimistic attitude- there may be good reason for that if you have been in the profession for some years. It may pay you to read up on some of the history of the podiatry profession.
New graduates are very keen to actually "specialise" themselves out of the market, and believe me in private practise there is a lot of palliative work which is your bread and butter and I am not too proud to admit it.
If you want this area of work to be ignored by pods and given to FHPs or anyone else that may pick up the title of chirpodist, then you are giving away your inheritence. Not only that, you are leaving patients wide open to treatment by less qualified practitioners.

Has it occured to you that some members of the public do not want a "podiatrist"? They want a "chiropodist" because they know what a chiropodist does. We have to educate them as we go along, but we can not educate all of them . This is not a problem if you want to work in the NHS of course, but pp is a totally different ball game.

Given time I am sure you will come to appreciate the complexity of the profession.

Cornmerchant

 

To my young colleagues...

I applaud your desire to only engage with the word Podiatry but I need far more than emotional ideals to agree with you.

Lucy Pod says:

How? Sometime mid 90's all the NHS Chiropody signs got changed and replaced with the word Podiatry some 15 years later the service user still cannot pronounce the word. I cannot equate that dropping the word Chiropodist from the title would achieve your aims.

Zuse, you have highlighted the need for a Marketing Campaign

So if the NHS is to save £15 billion 1% would give a reasonable budget for a sustained marketing campaign for Podiatry. Lucy Pod, ask SCP what budget they have for their plans to promote Podiatry and a name change. It will fall far short of what is actually needed and therefore another SCP non starter. I still display a Society of Chiropodists membership certificate in my practice. I have never been offered a replacement to reflect the last name change.

Young Pod you say :

So how do you plan to dissassociate yourself from the alternatively trained footcare providers? All suggestions so far point to offering them the use of most commercially viable word linked to feet...Chiropody.

So far all arguments for losing the word Chiropody are based on an emotive hope that it will improve your professional standing without a glance back at the value of the term chiropody in terms of market share and business potential for the whole profession.

I am sorry to dash your hopes but your service users do not give a damn about where you trained, how you trained and what skills you have. They are not interested in your CPD profile. They care about their feet being put right. How you put them right is how you utilise and demonstrate your skill. How you communicate your skill is how you sell and champion your profession. Michel Weber touched upon this. One satisfied patient impressed with the "sorted feet" and not intimidated by uprolling eyes by their ignorance of your title will bring all their pals to experience your skills. You then become successful but it takes time and as with every single profession there is no guarantee of your personal success.

But bear in mind, the NHS has to save a vast sum of money due to national debt and I don't see the newly forming Coalition Government rescinding cutbacks on public services. Of course GP's know what you can achieve, your fellow healthcare professionals do too but they think they can do it equally as well so will continue to feign ignorance and hope to protect their jobs by carrying out the work that was traditionally delivered by Podiatry/Chiropody. Bigger budget for their pudgy little hands.

SCP by supporting the aims of the DoH have clearly endorsed the transference of nail surgery to GP, diabetic care to tissue viability nurses, nail care to volunteers, VPs to the practice nurse and so on....They have failed to defend the grass roots of your profession believing the way to go is education and expansion of specialised skills.

So what puts food in your belly?

So come on guys give me something absolutely concrete on which I can hang your desire to drop the word Chiropody.

GB

 

Youngpod, Zuse, Lucypod

I am from the even more obscure profession of orthotics. If you think that your patients are not aware of your scope of practice/skill base, then you should try explaining orthotics!

I share your frustration about lack of recognition. There is one answer and George, Mandy and Michael have all touched upon it.

Instead of bemoaning your lack of recognition,or the lack of recognition of your skills, make yourself the best advertisment for your profession. Become integral to the services that you are involved in. Make yourself the authority on all things related to foot pathologies so that you have consultants, GPs and other health professionals beating a path to your door to ask your advice and have you treating their patients, privately or on the NHS.

Who cares whether patients coming to you understand how qualified you are? Solve their problems, educate them and educate your referrer by sending them a letter detailing your treatment and proving what you know. Physiotherapists enjoy the standing in the medical profession that they do now because for the last 50 years, they have had people who have been innovative and well educated pushing beyond their scope of practice to become an integral part of inpatient and outpatient clinical environments. However, there are many physios out there doing the bread and butter work who are every bit as important to their patients as the leaders.

Best of luck for the future

Robin

 

i feal as tho there is a bit of a devide here!
it seems that there is the newly Qualified podiatrists and the more experanced podiatrists!
after reading all the posts i do feal as tho droping the chiropodists from the title would be a silly thing to do! as a lot of the most experanced and respected practicioners are chiropodists! and we as young podiatrist need there help and guidence in order to progress our profession!
To be fair about the patient i mentioned befour, it was the manner in which she said it, that got to me not what she said!
i dont mind if people call me a chiropidist or a podiatrist! and i feal as tho i have learnt a lot form reading the posts that people have posted! i allways give my patients me best treetments and i shall continue to do so!
i dont think there is a Quick was to get our profession out there and reckognised! we will have to take it slow and give the best treetments that we are capable of and educate each and every patient we can!
i think we will get there it will just take a bit longer!

Thank you for all you input and helping me understand more about our professions background and forground!

 

Thanks for this post George. Perhaps we our young and naive and overly frustrated! And on reading some of the above posts from more experienced practitioners perhaps I was quick to jump on the bandwagon of abandoning the title 'chiropodist'.
And I totally agree that routine chiropdy is our bread and butter. I guess I'm just frustrated at the lack of recognition for the profession and as GB mentions the transference of our skills to other HCPs such as the nail surgery to G.P.s.
But I firmly believe that something must be done still to boost our profession. What? I don't know. But surely something something can be done by the SCP? Do none of you more experienced podiatrists agree/have any suggestions?
Thanks

 

Hi

Having done various incarnations in my working life I have often found myself amazed at how ignorant people, who have not done the same training and amount of training as me in my chosen career, can be!

After all, I mean, I go to the butcher and I know exactly the level of training he has done (do I?) to get where he is, just chopping up bits of dead flesh (like me cutting nails and hard skin) and the same with the baker and the same with the care worker and not least the undertaker.

I mean, do they not realise how passionate I am about my work?:bang:

It often takes time for any of us to realise that, whilst we think our job is something everyone should be aware of and people should be in awe of our dedication and skill, that mostly they are not and, generally, have only a passing interest whilst they are in our hands, then they are thinking about the horrors of the queu at tesco's when they leave us.

Surprisingly, over time spent with my pts, they come to realise that I have trained hard and broadly and their estimation of me might just have raised very slightly for doing so. But I really know they understand my sklful care for them and what I do for them in my very simple way when they rib me on leaving or during a treatment. Then I know that it is not how skilled I can make myself seem to them but the quiet skill of what I have done that impesses them.

This all takes time and, perhaps sadly, most people in life have little tiime to understand the vagaries of others work and efforts.

Ian

 

Absolutely my pleasure Youngpod and can I say it has also been a pleasure to debate with you all on this thread. It has been a polite and courteous debate.

There is too much at stake to just drop such an historical and commercial title but I fear this is just what the Society will do. The name is changing to reflect the new college structure and charitable status but does it have to change to drop Chiropody? Your delegates who attended the Assembly say yes.

I think lots of suggestions have been made in the posts already. One of my major concerns though is the divide that sometimes exists between the registered sector NHS and Private Podiatrists. We should unite and remain united at all times in the care of our patients. Too often we do not.

Always remember too when a AHP or GP refers a patient to you they do so because they respect your professional input. Give it to them. How many of you sit on a referral and never communicate your treatment plan and/or outcome?

Be professional in your manner, dress and behaviour at all times.

I would not rely on your professional body to promote the profession to the extent that it will actually result in a massive change of public perception. They simply do not have the funds to achieve this and I personally do not have confidence in SCP that they have an executive team committed and capable to take forwards such a monumentous task.

However inexperienced you may feel, never be afraid to challenge those who allegedly represent you. If you are not confident that SCP is doing enough to promote you, tell them so.

GB

 

Thank you george! very well said and!
Zuse

 

did I not hear that SOCAP have dropped chiropodist at the last conference? I thought it was the students move to push that through? and I thought it was a yes vote?

I used to hate being referred to as a chiropodist but now I'm not too fussed (prob cos it doesn't happen so much over here.) I had never thought about the dropping of chiropodist as a protected title would allow FHPs tio use it. I think they would consider this problem in legislation when they did drop the title.

I still repeatedly get the oh so you work with kids and the one that is annoying my at the moment is of that's feet and stuff isn't it. I usually say yes, and stuff. if I'm bored I'll go into the spiel depending on who it is.

I don't like it though that a discussion on here about the future of Podiatry and all we've rambled on about for 20 posts or so is what are we called!!!

Personally I have hope we go the way of dentists...the money and the assistant would be nice. I think it would be a shame to make it so inaccessible to the oldies though.

 

What`s in a name ?

A person with a foot problem will seek the clinician who they think is appropriate to deal with that problem. They (in the UK) have a myriad of choices, this is where the problem starts. If it were a tooth it`s straightforward, you seek a Dental Surgeon, a professional.

It`s a simple fact that after 13 years of New Labour and with their explicit intent, Podiatry/Chiropody has been deprofessionalised. We now have a greater array of foot treaters than ever before, some are professionaly qualified in another discipline, some not qualified in the accepted sense.

To talk about educating the public when there is such a mish mash is realistically a non starter. To be successful in any aim requires that you know your position to start with. There are many positions, you may start from the position you know but at every step you`ll be thwarted by contradictory positions.

To be successful in 'your' podiatry career you need to build a reputation for yourself, do a good job and ignore what`s going on around you. Accept that you`re not in a 'profession' but a job.

If Podiatry/Chiropody were a profession educating the public would be straightforward and possible !

 

Hi all

We took the brave decision to rename our practice as "Podiatrists" 2 years ago and ditch the "c" word.

We were sure that it would negatively affect our practice at first but we were wrong! Patients love it.

Lots of people ask us if we do Chiropody and we get the opportunity to educate them about the fact we do general podiatry as well as the cool stuff such as issuing antibiotics, msk work (GA and Bio in old english), surgery etc etc. And......during the recession we have grown!! (so much so we have relocated one clinic into bigger premises and another one will follow later in the year). All of the Pods earnings are up, and we've been able to invest in loads of new equipment and a new practice management system - what could be better!

I would encourage you all to make the change as soon as possible, many new patients come to us saying they have been recommended because we are forward-thinking and not like other "old fashioned" practices that still use the "c" word. We are 100% private practice with 16 pods....it seemed like a risk at the time - how wrong we were to be fearful.

I know most people hate change, but this is one well-worth facing.

Have the courage!

all the best

Julian