Job summary
Are you passionate about improving foot health and enhancing quality of life? Join our podiatry team and make a real difference to the lives of patients every day!

As a Community Podiatrist, you will assess and provide clearly planned podiatric care packages to patients with a variety of care needs, with the aim of maintaining independence and mobility. You will work alongside a multi-disciplinary team, collaborating with other healthcare professionals to deliver high quality, patient centred care.

Whether you're a newly registered Podiatrist or experienced practitioner, this is a fantastic opportunity to develop your skills in a supportive and forward thinking environment.

Our offer to you:
Rotation into the acute sector as an observer in departments such as vascular and orthopaedics.

Encouragement and support with your career progression into advanced clinical roles and leadership roles.

Our values are at the heart of everything we do, they are:
Continuous improvement
Accountability
Respect
Enthusiasm
Support

If you share our values and want to be part of a team that makes a real difference, we want to hear from you.

Main duties of the job
You will work as part of a highly motivated team providing a high standard of clinical care in a variety of community settings, ensuring the provision of seamless care between primary and secondary care.

You will provide treatment for patients to maintain tissue viability and relieve pain; especially patients who require specialist care packages because they are at special risk due to diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and peripheral vascular disease.

About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Job responsibilities
Clinical:

• Delivery of podiatry in clinical, domiciliary and residential home settings, usually working in isolation, always as an autonomous practitioner.
• Assessment and treatment of existing patients in line with departmental protocols using judgements involving complex facts about the patients medical conditions, current medication and podiatric needs.
• Develop treatment plans with expected outcomes and agree with patient how these outcomes may be best achieved. Provide advice to patients on foot health matters.
• Employ stringent control of cross infection and decontamination measures during daily exposure to infectious material i.e., wound/ulcer dressings, blood, pus or body fluid, unkempt dirty feet, and body and when working in less than hygienic conditions in domiciliary situations.
• Follow standard operating procedures for podiatry instrument use
• Assess for nail surgery and undertake nail surgery, supervised by a senior podiatrist. Be responsible for the administration of local analgesia, observation of the patient for adverse reaction and the administration of adrenalin in the event of the patient suffering anaphylactic shock.
• Assess for orthotics, make and provide chair-side devices, prescribe bespoke orthotics and liaise with appropriate specialist.
• Have the capability to move and handle patients who may be immobile, wheelchair or bed bound.
• Work in patients homes/residential homes in confined spaces, with poor lighting, inadequate seating, sitting in a restricted position/ over patient's bed working from a domiciliary bag. Treatment position may be restricted by non-compliance from the patients due to physical, mental or emotional debility.
• Provide health education advice including one to one advice and education to groups of peers, professionals and patients.
• Delegate appropriate patients to the care of podiatry assistants.

Leadership:

• Assist in the supervision of students, podiatry assistants and new members of staff.
• Delegate suitable patients to podiatry assistants.

Person Specification
Skills
Essential

• Excellent interpersonal and verbal communication
• Excellent written communication
• Good time management and organisational skills
• Demonstrate ability to analyse complex facts / situations and act accordingly
• Highly developed hand to eye co-ordination

Other
Essential

• Ability to travel for work purposes

Knowledge and Experience
Essential

• Demonstrate an understanding / willingness to participate in continuous professional development
• Demonstrate development of a personal portfolio
• Demonstrate an understanding of the clinical governance agenda
• Demonstrate active involvement in research, audit or other quality issues
• Computer literate

Desirable

• Demonstrate experience of range of podiatry procedures / situations e.g., orthotics, nail surgery, diabetic footcare, care of the elderly, delivery of care in clinical and domiciliary setting through a variety of student placements

Values
Essential

• Continuous Improvement
• Accountability
• Respectfulness
• Enthusiasm
• Support
• High professional standards
• Responsive to service users
• Engaging leadership style
• Strong customer service belief
• Transparency and honesty
• Discreet
• Change oriented

Qualifications
Essential

• BSc Hons Degree or diploma in Podiatric Medicine.
• Registered with HCPC
• LA certificate

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration.