The health and social care landscape
The health and social care landscape
Podiatry support workers play an integral role within the foot health team by supporting people's health and wellbeing. Their skills and attributes provide the foundations to enable high-quality care within established clinical pathways informing and delivering personalised treatment plans.
The NHS Long Term Plan (2019) recognises the need for a workforce fit for practise and highlights the requirements for collaborative working to support acute and chronic conditions. As we see the age of the UK population increase, the development of long-term conditions, such as diabetes and arthritis, highlight the pressures that are being put on the current health and social care systems. It has long been recognised that the UK's regulated podiatry workforce alone, cannot sustain the provision of foot care services for all people. This is understood to be multifactorial due to an increase in service demand, medical complexity, and preventative strategies.
AHP 2, Modernisation and reform of the twenty-first-century podiatrist, highlights the capabilities of the twenty-first-century podiatrist and how the population need requires a modernised podiatry curriculum to support the future of lower limb care. With this upskilling of the profession, the opportunity to develop collaborative foot health teams offers new models of care as highlighted by the AHP strategy for England 2022 to 2027 offering the development of the career pathway as set out in the career framework.
Case studies
In Derbyshire Community Health Service, the career progression of the foot health team is evident with job opportunities from foot care assistants to consultant podiatric surgeons, and all levels in-between. This service structure has enthused and encouraged opportunities for staff development and looks to support recruitment and retainment within the NHS, especially for those considering the apprenticeship route. Onboarding into support workforce roles can be a way to identify career choices for those staff who might not have seen themselves working within AHP professional teams. Jo's story highlights how previous life experiences in other roles such as administrative practice management can set you up with many key skills and attributes for a support worker role.
Read Jo Wesson's case study
These sorts of career-enhancing opportunities can also sit within private and charitable services, enabling patient choice with a variety of treatment options, services, and costs. Patients and service users are at the heart of the foot health team with shared decision-making central to empowering responsibility for their foot health. With standardising career/development structures for the support workforce, their involvement within patient care can build continuity and consistency for patients, building rapport which positively impacts the business/service model. York Podiatry Ltd has recently developed its practice to include a foot care assistant. The impact on the business has increased patient appointment capacity which has allowed for reinvestment into the business to offer advanced treatment options and assessment and screening devices. The impact is larger than just a fiscal one as Becky Hargreaves explains when she saw potential in her receptionist, Simone.
Read Simone and Becky's story here.