Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

Clinical Lead Podiatrist

The closing date is 01 April 2026

Job summary

Provide senior clinical leadership across all podiatry pathways, delivering advanced assessment, diagnosis and treatment for complex and high-risk patients. Lead timely escalation for limb-threatening conditions and coordinate multidisciplinary involvement. Offer expert advice, case reviews and clinical supervision to ensure safe, evidence-based practice.

Lead day-to-day and strategic management of the podiatry service, ensuring safe staffing, effective skill mix and strong clinical governance. Oversee service planning, pathway redesign, performance monitoring, and adherence to national standards. Manage incidents, risks and quality-improvement activity, and develop policies and pathways to support safe, efficient service delivery.

Provide professional leadership for the workforce, supporting recruitment, induction, supervision, performance management and staff development. Promote a positive culture and ensure robust training and CPD opportunities.

Lead audit, quality, and safety processes, ensuring compliance with governance, infection control and safeguarding standards, and maintaining high-quality clinical documentation and data.

Represent podiatry at strategic meetings and build strong partnerships across acute, community and system-wide teams. Contribute to service development, business cases and workforce planning. Maintain HCPC registration, uphold professional standards, and lead on implementing evidence-based practice and innovation.

Main duties of the job

Provide senior clinical leadership across all podiatry pathways, including high-risk foot care, diabetic foot disease, wound care, MSK and nail surgery. Deliver specialist assessment, diagnostics and treatment planning for complex patients, acting as the senior clinical decision-maker. Offer expert advice, second opinions and case reviews to support safe, evidence-based practice, and provide supervision, competency assessment and mentorship for staff.

Provide strategic and operational leadership, ensuring safe staffing, effective skill mix and strong clinical governance. Lead service planning, transformation and pathway redesign, and oversee consistent delivery across sites in line with national standards. Monitor performance through KPIs, waiting times, audit findings and activity data. Lead incident review and risk management processes, and develop policies and pathways to support safe, effective service delivery.

Lead recruitment, induction, supervision, performance management and staff development, promoting a positive and high-performing culture.

Oversee audit and quality-improvement work, ensuring compliance with governance, infection control and safeguarding standards, and maintain accurate documentation and data quality.

Develop strong partnerships across acute, community, PCN and specialist teams. Contribute to service development and workforce planning. Maintain HCPC registration, uphold professional standards and lead on evidence-based practice and innovation.

About us

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is an integrated Trust and the only provider of NHS acute care in Walsall, serving a population of 284,300, providing inpatient and outpatient services at the Manor Hospital as well as a wide range of services in the community. Walsall Manor houses the full range of district general hospital services under one roof. The £170 million development was completed in 2010 and the continued upgrading of existing areas ensures the Trust now has a state-of-the-art Critical Care Unit, Neonatal Unit, Obstetric Theatre, and Integrated Assessment Unit facilities.

A new Urgent Emergency Care Centre was opened in March 2023. The two-storey development has significantly improved emergency care facilities and capacity and has provided almost 5,000 square metres of additional clinical space.

Date posted

23 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£55,690 to £62,682 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

407-COMMUNITY-7840445

Job locations

Bentley Health Centre & other Health Centres across Walsall Community

Walsall

WS2 0BA

Job description

Job responsibilities

As Clinical Lead you will be:

A visible AHP leader and role model for the Podiatry service with the responsibility and

accountability for professional standards.

Professionally accountable and maintain the standards of professional practice as set by the appropriate regulatory body applicable to your profession or role.

Accountable for identifying and ensuring improvements in patient safety, patient experience and effectiveness of service.

In conjunction with the Professional Lead for AHPs, lead the implementation and delivery of the

clinical service improvement plan.

Providing expert advice to the Community Division on all Podiatry matters

Ensuring effective contribution to the delivery of the organisations objectives

Providing line management for Senior Podiatrists, Podiatrists, Support Workers and the Admin

Team.

Managing the budget for the service ensuring efficient and effective use of resources

Required to contribute to the planning and execution of cost improvement programmes ensuring the quality of care is risk assessed and managed appropriately.

Ensuring safe and effective clinical practice

Work with the Professional Lead for AHPs to embed systems to deliver high quality person-centred care with compassion, dignity and respect and good health outcomes.

Monitor and ensure Team leaders deliver on-going improvements in standards of Podiatry services through the development of effective systems and processes.

Implement agreed systems across the Care Group/Division to evidence and monitor the Podiatry contribution to national and local standards of care.

Identify risks relating to Podiatry, developing & implementing action plans to mitigate them as well as alerting the Professional Lead for AHPs and ensuring they are recorded on the appropriate risk register.

Lead the development of Podiatric research agenda within the Care Group.

Engage in clinical practice to develop the skills of others.

Monitor complaints about Podiatry and incidents related to Podiatry within the Care Group, ensuring appropriate responses and implementation of action plans effectively resolve issues identified.

Implement agreed systems to identify opportunities for learning and sharing good practice.

Take timely action when professional standards fall short of those acceptable.

Implement agreed systems to deliver patient safety and prevention of harm assurance.

Ensure the implementation and monitoring of practice standards that meet all Infection Prevention standards.

Ensure learning from the root cause analyses of incidents, complaints and claims are translated into learning and improvement within designated areas.

Participate in a range of formal management processes, investigation, hearing and implementation of findings where Podiatry staffs professional/personal conduct or professional competency is called into question.

Enhancing the patient experience

Undertake clinical activity, with a visible presence to patients and staff, whilst monitoring the quality of care and experience of patients in all clinical settings.

Embed processes to engage patients and the public in service developments, to seek their views on existing services and to respond to their ideas and concerns.

Take action to address poor patient experience identified through trend analysis/complaints and report outcomes to Care Group/Division.

Lead corrective actions when patients/carers raise concerns regarding care standards.

Support the effective flow of patients through the service, professionally leading and advising the clinical team to maintain the best patient experience in times of increased demand on capacity.

Monitor and identify standards in relation to cleanliness and environment and ensure corrective actions are taken.

Respond appropriately to patient concerns and questions raised via PALs and other informal feedback mechanisms.

Ensure that everyone within sphere of care is treated with dignity and humanity, understanding individual needs, showing compassion and sensitivity, and provide care in a way that respects all people equally.

Professional Leadership

Provide line management for Podiatrists within service area

Oversee the Podiatry pay and non-pay budgets.

Provide leadership and direction to all Podiatry staff in designated areas.

Undertake annual performance development reviews of Senior Podiatrists ensuring each has a personal development plan to optimise their performance and potential for career progression.

Develop and promote a positive culture within the Care Group/Division to enable continuous quality and service improvement.

Act in accordance with the HCPC Code Standards of conduct, performance, and ethics for Podiatrists.

Promote a positive image of Podiatry internally and external to the Trust.

Be an effective leader of change, embedding a culture of continuous quality improvement.

Implement agreed systems to ensure the Podiatry workforce is fit for purpose in relation to statutory and mandatory training.

Ensure the HCPC Standards to support learning and assessment in practice for education are met within the department.

Provide Clinical Supervision for Podiatry staff within the Care Group/Division.

Ensure the Professional Lead for AHPs is briefed on all professional issues within the department.

Lead a culture of continuous quality improvement through use of audit, patient feedback and reflection by self and within the designated clinical areas.

Participate in the recruitment and selection processes of the Trust.

Continuous Service Improvement

Contribute to the redesign and planning for the modernisation of Podiatry.

Facilitate effective multi-disciplinary team working at service level setting clear and measurable improvement outcomes.

Monitor and manage the performance of Senior Podiatrists against job descriptions and agreed performance monitoring frameworks.

Develop and implement an effective workforce plan to support service delivery and quality standards.

Contribute to the review and development of roles ensuring they add value to the patient pathway.

Contribute to a Care Group/Divisional training plan for Podiatry to inform the education and training commissioning and in-house provision.

Ensuring Effective Contribution to the Delivery of the Organisations Objectives

Prepare and participate in Divisional/Care Group investigations and disciplinary hearings as required.

Take a lead role for defined projects or pieces of work as agreed.

Contribute to the delivery of the Trusts strategic objectives.

Work in collaboration with the Professional Lead for AHPs to ensure cross cover arrangements in times of absence.

Ensure dissemination of knowledge and implementation of plans related to the organisations quality and safety agenda, supporting the preventing harm campaign and adherence to Always Events.

Demonstrate by self and through designated service areas compliance to the pledges of the NHS Constitution