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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Communications

• Communicate effectively with patients and carers so as to obtain clear diagnostic information.
• Deliver appropriate foot care advice to patients and their carers.
• Promote equality, diversity and rights.
• To actively promote a healthy lifestyle to patients persuading and encouraging them to eat healthily, take up exercise and stop smoking.
• Work effectively as a member of a multi-professional team and liaise with other health professionals and agencies to provide quality care across all care boundaries - social services, hospitals and care homes.
• Maintain accurate treatment records of patients care.
• Attend department and multi-disciplinary meetings.

Responsibility for Patient Care 

• To assess new patients using the locally agreed screening tool in order to establish if NHS Podiatry is appropriate.
• Provide clinically effective treatments underpinned by evidence based practice.
• Work alongside community specialist Podiatrists caring for high risk patients, children with complex needs and patients with complicated biomechanical problems.
• Following treatment plans to decide when a patient has reached their maximum potential for rehabilitation and discharge with a self-care plan.
• Work collaboratively with GP's, District Nurses and colleagues re: patients with foot ulceration requiring frequent dressing changes.
• To carry out nail surgery assessments and undertake nail surgery on a rotational basis
• To provide patients and their carers with advice to enable them to contribute to their management plan.
• Make appropriate referrals to podiatric specialities and other Health Care Professionals.
• Discharge patients from the service if they do not meet the criteria for podiatry care
• Empower patients for whom NHS Podiatry is deemed unnecessary to care for their own feet. This usually involves teaching through demonstration to either the patient or their carer and ensuring they have a full understanding of what to do.
• Assess all patients requiring a home visit, applying the appropriate mobility assessment tool.
• To participate in the diabetes foot screening programme within Primary Care, GP surgeries and Community clinics.
• Create and maintain accurate and comprehensive patient records to facilitate a high standard of patient care and to comply with medical-legal requirements.
• To have knowledge of medical problems and drug management in order to assess and discuss complications relevant not only to the foot, but the whole person. 

Planning and organising

• To be responsible for the day to day planning of personal workload in order to meet the demands of the job role.
• Take responsibility for maintaining personal and clinical diary.
• Deal with emergencies and their management, including the consequences of changes to planned timetable.
• Flexible working will be required; weekend and evening work may be necessary dependant on service demands.

Responsibilities for Physical and / or Financial Resources

• Be responsible for ensuring stock levels are maintained and kept secure.
• Maintain a clean, risk free clinical environment.
• Podiatrists will undertake a risk assessment for all domiciliary work.
• Oversee the safe transfer of patients to and from the treatment couch.
• Attend any departmental specific training e.g. prevention and control of infection, use of new equipment.
• Be responsible for the use of medical devices including day to day maintenance and fault reporting at all treatment locations.
• Ensure that Health and Safety legislation is complied with at all times COSHH, risk assessment, control of infection, decontamination.
• Wear protective clothing provided and follow PPE guidelines.
• Ensure the effective and efficient use of clinical resources.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development and Implementation

• To be aware of, comment on/or actively participate in changes to policies, procedures or service developments and implement these once agreed.
• Respond to trust directives as required.
• Be actively involved in quality initiatives to improve service delivery.
• To follow departmental policies and guidelines but have the discretion to make clinical diagnosis and decisions within professional boundaries.

 Responsibilities for Human Resources and Leadership

• Be flexible in responding to the needs of the service and provide cover for other podiatrists at short notice or known periods of absence.
• To delegate patients to assistant grade staff and oversee their clinical work.

Responsibilities for Teaching and Training

• Participate in foot health education to patients, carers and other staff groups.
• To participate in placement of podiatry students and other Health care staff e.g. district nurses, GP trainees and support new or less experienced work colleagues to adapt to the workplace.
• Ensure attendance at trust and department mandatory training e.g. BLS, fire, health and safety, moving and handling, equality and diversity.
• Participate in Continuous Professional Development activities to promote self and service development.

Responsibilities for data and information resources

• Ensure treatment notes are completed to the Trust standard for every contact with a patient.
• Input data into the Trusts IT system following patient contact.
• To co-operate in the collection of additional information for projects or patient surveys.

Research, Development and Audit

• Participate in clinical governance activities and development of outcomes, standards, guidelines, policies and protocols.
• Participate in professional research trials and audit as required.
• Demonstrate a commitment to CPD to meet personal and service needs.
• Learn through clinical supervision and sharing of positive and negative events.
• Maintain knowledge of evidence based practice and accepted best practice.
• Maintain a professional portfolio
• To carry out regular evaluation of own assessment work re outcome statistics. 

Physical Skills and Effort

• Demonstrate capability to move and handle patients who may be immobile, wheelchair or bedbound.
• Car driver/owner
• Able to travel the whole of the district as required.
• Physical skills are required for repetitive movements and force needed for cutting hard/thick nails. Repetitive pattern of work doing fine exacting work.
• Requirement to concentrate for up to 3½ hours twice per day. Checking notes, assessing and treating patients and writing up case notes. There is a need for speed as well as intense concentration. Intense concentration is required for a shift when performing nail surgery, including administration of local anaesthetic whilst performing intricate, invasive surgical procedure.