As State Registered practitioners many podiatrists work in the National Health Service, in private practice or both. There are, though, many other places podiatrists can work. NHS
Private Practice
Retail Sector
Leisure Industry
Occupational Health
Education
Research
Forensic Podiatry
 As practitioners podiatrists adhere to very strict clinical protocols to ensure the safety of the people they treat as well as themselves.The NHS offers a wide range of working environments for its practitioners. As an NHS podiatrist you could either be community or hospital based.
Working in the Community
- In the community you could find yourself working in:
- Community health clinics large and small;
- GP surgeries running general or specialist clinics;
- Patient's homes doing domicillary visits for those who are housebound;
- Orthotics laboratories producing orthoses for patients;
- Residential and nursing homes whose residents often require a lot of podiatric support;
- Clinic based surgeries, conducting nail surgery;
- Schools carrying out foot health screening programmes for their pupils;
- Mobile surgeries which are used in some rural areas.
During the course of a working week you would find yourself working in a number of these varied locations and you could be working alongside lots of other healthcare professionals including: General Practitioners
Fellow Podiatrists
Care Workers
Practice Managers
Occupational Therapists | Practice Nurses
Foot Care Assistants
Specialist Nurses
Nursing Matrons
Dieticians | District Nurses
Physiotherapists
School Nurses
Othotists
Prosthetists |
Working in Hospitals
- If you were a hospital based podiatrist you may well find yourself working in many different locations which include:
- In wards treating a wide variety of in-patients;
- An out-patients clinic treating general podiatric problems;
- A specialist out patients clinic focussing on the care of diabetes or rheumatology, for example;
- A biomechanics clinic conducting patient assessments;
- A day case theatre conducting nail surgery.
Being hospital based, you are sure to be working alongside many other heath care professionals which may include: Ward Nurses
Paediatricians
Occupational Therapists
rthopaedic Surgeons
Rheumatologists |
Dermatologists
Physiotherapists
Specialist Nurses
Diabetologists
Hospital Porters |
Working as a private practitioner the locations you work in will depend on the scope of your practice. The locations could include:- Patients' homes treating a wide variety of problems;
- A private clinic either in your home or often in premises on the high street;
- A GPs clinic working on a sessional basis;
- Sports clubs or fitness centres treating sports injuries;
- Residential / Nursing homes offering routine care to a large number of patients;
- Companies in industry and retail employ podiatrists as part of the occupational health team;
- Prisons employ podiatrists on a sessional basis.
There are many other varied and unusual locations that you could find yourself in. The chance is your work will be so varied that you will end up working in a number of these environments.
There is now the opportunity for State Registered practitioners to work in the retail sector.
This is a growth industry which is creating exciting employment opportunities for podiatrists to work in the following areas: - Sports Clubs
- Fitness Centres
- Large Hotels
Occupational Health (OH) is concerned with a two-way relationship of work and health. The emphasis of occupational health podiatry is on prevention. In addition the treatment of acute or chronic problems affecting an employee's foot health is essential to their mobility and ability to work safely. The role of the podiatrist within the OH team includes the following essential skills: Teamwork:
Sharing knowledge and resolving work-related health issues with other members of the OH team (e.g. OH Nurse, physician or physiotherapist) will require good team working skills. There is usually a close working relationship between the physiotherapist and podiatrist, as many of the musculo-skeletal problems affecting the lower limb and back will benefit from the expertise of both practitioners. There also needs to be a good working relationship with company management. For example, a company's business dress policy may require less suitable footwear than is recommended by the podiatrist, so a compromise agreement needs to be reached. Prevention through education:
As well as excellent clinical skills, you will need to develop good communication skills. Your role will include advising individual patients and management on which footwear is right for the nature of the work carried out. Presentation and excellent writing skills are desirable as you may be asked to give talks on foot health to employees, provide articles for in-house company communications and reporting to members of the OH or management team. Treatment of acute and chronic foot problems:
The overall aim of OH is to keep employees mobile, so it is important to resolve problems that affect their foot health. This means you will need to understand the type of work the patient does as the problem may be work related. For example, why would a person working behind a fresh fish counter in a supermarket be prone to athlete's foot? Due to the requirement to wear rubber boots all day, the foot is enclosed in warm, moist and dark conditions - the perfect environment for athlete's foot to develop. As well as treatment, you'll need to help find a solution to alleviate the problem that may include working with other areas of the business.
 Teaching is not just done in the classroom environment.Working in higher education as a lecturer provides the opportunity for podiatrists to extend their clinical skill and academic achievement, within a challenging leading edge environment. You could be working alongside fellow professionals, including other healthcare academics, researchers, undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The working environment of a researcher can be very varied depending on the focus of the research work. Some will be clinical and some will be laboratory based. Researchers could therefore find themselves working in universities, hospitals, community healthcare, commerce or more often a combination of these.
A podiatrist specialising in forensic techniques may be required to work in a number of areas. These would include forensic and health laboratories where evidence examination would take place also police stations, prisons or solicitors' premises, where evidence or suspect examination would be undertaken. Working in other countries you may find you are required to attend a scene of crime to collect and examine evidence on site. Forensic podiatry is a relatively new development and a podiatrist working in this area will inevitably be carrying out research on this subject. This will require you to attend conferences across the world giving presentations on research findings. As a podiatrist working in forensics you may find yourself working with scientists, police agencies, solicitors and other forensic podiatrists.
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