Senior Community Podiatrist

Job responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY

To act as a senior community podiatrist within in the community setting of Barnsley. This senior community podiatrist role is designed to assess, treat, diagnose, manage and discharge, all appropriately triaged patients across all sub specialities of Podiatry which include Wound Care, MSK/Biomechanics, Nail Surgery and Core Podiatry.

To work as an autonomous podiatrist, working collaboratively with other members of the Podiatric and wider NHS community services to deliver and sustain high quality care, against national standards and frameworks.

To assist and work alongside other advanced clinical podiatrists of all sub-specialities, in planning, developing and implementation of podiatry care strategies in line with national and local targets, guidelines and frameworks.

To actively engage and participate in clinical supervision, appraisals, student supervision and teaching.

To participate in evidence-based research opportunities, deemed appropriate for the role.

KEY RESULT AREAS:

The postholder will:

1.1Care/service/function provision:

To comply with the Royal College of Podiatry and the Health Care Professions Council code of ethics and professional conduct and to adhere to national and local policies and procedures.

To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work, including the management of patients with complex needs.

To discharge a duty of care specific to each patient relevant to their medical, social and ethical needs and requirements.

To conduct assessments of patients as an autonomous practitioner, including those with a range of common presentations, and using clinical reasoning skills, knowledge of evidence-based practice, and specialised podiatric expertise to determine appropriate care plans utilising specialist treatment skills and options.

To be responsible and accountable for providing clinical interventions to patients for the management of common, multi-factorial, lower limb pathologies across clinical and domiciliary settings.

To discharge a broad theoretical and practical podiatric skills and knowledge in the care of the patient with a lower limb active pathology across all subspecialities of Podiatry.

Undertake appropriate core podiatry treatment according to the Trust inclusion criteria.

Undertake appropriate assessment and treatment of high-risk wounds deemed appropriate for the role.

Undertake appropriate assessment and treatment of MSK/Biomechanical pathologies, which may include assessment, provision and/or manufacturing of orthotic devices.

Undertake appropriate assessment and treatment of patients requiring nail surgery, being able to obtain informed written consent, in guidance with the trust-approved nail surgery guidelines and be confident in dealing with its complications.

To access Prescription Only Medication by appropriate legal avenues such as GP, PGD or POM-A and S, in line with Trust policy for common podiatric pathologies.

To organise, when required, supporting intervention. This may involve regular liaison with other professions including specialist nurses, consultant AHP and Medics, orthotic appliances, and primary care clinical staff. Examples being, escalating patients to senior podiatric staff, sharing care with nursing services or medication reviews by GPs.

To manage conditions using specialist clinical reasoning, critical thinking, reflection, and analysis to support assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning. To utilise evidence-based practice in all subspecialities of Podiatry.

To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, regularly liaising with other professionals and in collaboration with teams across all forms of health care providers/agencies, where necessary, referring on appropriately for other specialist care such as Diabetology, Vascular, Orthopaedic and Podiatric surgical intervention to ensure the holistic approach to the management of the patient is met.

To communicate all necessary information, and provide specialist knowledge, efficiently and effectively with relevant colleagues, carers and with the patient.

To develop, create and deliver specialised teaching to peers, podiatry staff and students on a wide range of podiatric training across the subspecialities.

To participate in the education and development of health care professionals from other disciplines across all healthcare settings, with the aim of increasing staff awareness of the care required of foot care provision by other health care professionals.

To attend delegated and post appropriate meetings as a representative of the Podiatry and Foot Protection Service, maintaining the departments overall goals, directions and promoting its values, culture and ethos.

To have knowledge and understanding of the variety of cultural backgrounds and beliefs to respect individuals rights and dignity.

Actively influence service changes and development, including the setting up and monitoring of practice standards using evidence-based practice and when appropriate taking a lead in implementing them.

To demonstrate a sound understanding of Clinical Governance and Risk Management appropriate to the work situation.

To participate in the strategic and operational planning, implementation of policy and service development within a designated service.

To monitor efficacy of a variety of specialist patient services using clinical audit and to implement change, in discussion with relevant clinical lead, in accordance with evidence-based practice. This may be in collaboration with other disciplines including nursing, other AHPs, hospital teams and GPs.

To achieve and maintain a level of understanding and ability for all information technology programs and processes required of this role.

To be responsible for maintenance of accurate written podiatric records in line with legal and trust requirements, including timely diagnoses, progress and discharge reports to medical and non-medical referrers.

To maintain accurate and evaluative record keeping system for own clinical caseload and to be responsible for ensuring that more junior and student podiatrists are maintaining the department standard.

1.2 Working as part of a Team:

To maintain accurate, comprehensive professional podiatric records for all direct and indirect patient contact, in line with Trust policy and HCPC and professional standards.

Communicating effectively with patients, carers, and other professionals using appropriate and flexible communication skills, such as motivation, negotiation, explanation and persuasion, to maximise rehabilitation potential and ensure understanding of foot pathology.

To give information, in difficult, contentious and sensitive situations requiring clinical understanding and communication skills.

To liaise with other professionals ensuring that assessment, diagnostic results, and treatment plans are appropriately shared and understood enabling the treatment aims to be supported by the wider health care network. To maintain confidentiality consistent with the Trust policy.

To collaborate with associated specialists within either a hospital or community setting and participate in training, workshops, and seminars within the multidisciplinary team.

1.3 Managing Self:

To be aware of up to date evidenced based practice in the specialist area by use of relevant reading, attendance at in-service training, external courses and database searches.

To participate in research and development delegated by an advanced clinical podiatrist.

To regularly audit, to a high standard, the effectiveness of own specialist post and service, in conjunction with clinical governance requirements.

To work in collaboration with management and external agencies to identify research priorities and develop an ongoing quality assurance programme within clinical area.

1.4 Management Supervision and Support:

To participate in the clinical mentoring programme of staff members and student podiatrists through clinical supervision, appraisals and mentorship, considering the individuals needs and abilities. Education of knowledge and skills, required for practice, should be aimed and delivered according to position held and experience.

To attend regular department team meetings and delegated speciality meetings to share information on needs and initiatives and support the development of the Podiatry and Foot Protection Team.

To regularly participate in working parties developing policy changes particularly in specialist areas, which has been deemed appropriate for the role.

To assist in the efficient day to day management of the podiatry department.

For full details of the role please see the supporting documents attached.

Special Knowledge/Skills

Essential

• Able to provide effective communication (both written and verbal) and interpersonal skills to all levels in the organisation.
• Ability to maintain good working relationships with other healthcare professionals, service users and carers.
• Ability to write accurate reports on patient health and care needs to other health professionals.
• Have effective organisational skills.
• Willing to learn and progress within post.
• Ability to participate in discussion and sharing of information.
• Ability to use effective time management in a highly demanding service.
• Able to work autonomously in clinical situations and make decisions based on clinical skills, experience, policies, procedures and best practice.
• Able to assess analyse and investigate complex facts, situations, risks and/or podiatric problems, use interpretation, judgement on both the clinical and social findings to provide and plan effective treatment.
• Good dexterity, hand-eye and sensory co-ordination skills for use of fine tools and machinery.
• Basic keyboard skills.
• Flexible working to meet the demands of the service.

Qualifications

Essential

• BSc Degree in Podiatric Medicine or Diploma (if qualified before 1992).
• Health and Care Professions Council Registered.
• Certificate of Local Anaesthesia.
• POM- A and/or S.

Desirable

• Membership to appropriate governing body.
• Non-Medical Prescribing (v300).

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Flexibility of working times and practice including out of hours/weekend work when necessary.
• Must be able to undertake travel duties associated with this post including patients homes, other hospitals and community venues.
• A Current driving licence and access to a car during the working day is essential (reasonable adjustments will be considered for any applicants who are unable to drive due to a disability).

Physical Attributes

Essential

• A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).
• Good dexterity, hand-eye and sensory co-ordination skills for use of fine tools and machinery.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working at a band 5 level or above in a community setting with an independent caseload.
• Experience of working autonomously and collaboratively within multidisciplinary and inter-disciplinary settings.
• Experience of assessing, diagnosing and managing a wide range of patients with common comorbidities.
• Accessing Prescription only medication via appropriate legal avenues.
• Awareness/experience of setting & maintaining clinical standards and clinical audit.
• Evidence of contribution to change within the workplace.
• Understanding of the role of podiatry within current evolving health environment.
• Previous experience student supervision.

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).