Dean of the Faculty of Podiatric Surgery challenges misleading editorial
The letter defends podiatric surgery standards and calls for collaboration
The Dean of the Faculty of Podiatric Surgery at the Royal College of Podiatry (RCPod), Mr Ewan Kannegieter, has written a formal rebuttal to a paper that appeared in the Bone & Joint Journal (BJJ).
The paper questioned the regulation of podiatric surgery, its outcomes and its scope. It also incorrectly linked podiatric surgeons to unregulated professions and implied that orthopaedic surgery produces safer outcomes, relying on selective and outdated evidence.
In his letter, Mr Kannegieter explained that podiatric surgeons undergo extensive training, completing at least 850 procedures. He also drew attention to the fact that podiatric surgeons operate within rigorous regulatory governance and frameworks overseen by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
The rebuttal also referred to offensive comparisons made in the BJJ paper, including a reference to Dr Harold Shipman, calling them inappropriate and misleading.
Mr Kannegieter repeated the Faculty’s commitment to collaborating with orthopaedic organisations to improve foot and ankle surgery in the UK and called for the continuation of fair and evidence-based discussion in the future.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society, which formalises collaboration to address shared priorities in foot and ankle care, is now available to view. The RCPod will formally launch the MoU on 9 January 2025, alongside the launch of a new podiatric surgery commissioning guide, but members now have early access to the MoU before its official launch.
You can read the full response here.