Acute Podiatrist

Employer King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Employer type NHS

Site King's College Hospital

Town London

Salary £46,148 - £52,809 Per annum incl HCA

Salary period Yearly

Closing 29/01/:59

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1.7 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King's College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

Job overview

Job Summary

To provide highly specialised podiatric care for patients attending the Diabetic Foot Clinic. The Diabetic Foot Clinic is a podiatry-led, multidisciplinary, tertiary referral unit, which provides expert specialist foot care, advanced assessment and diagnostic techniques for high-risk patients with complex foot pathologies resulting from the complications of diabetes. This role is an opportunity to broaden and apply further specialist knowledge and skills within the MDT.

The post holder will be expected to actively contribute as part of the multidisciplinary team including vascular and orthopaedic clinics. As such, the post holder is also an educator to patients and their carers, other health care professionals including medical, surgical, podiatric, nursing, physiotherapy and social services and other staff when appropriate.

The post holder will be expected to promote the role and scope of podiatry, locally, nationally and internationally.

Main duties of the job

The Mike Edmonds Foot Unit provides "Gold Standard" foot care for those patients attending with complex foot care needs associated with their diabetes.

The podiatrists within this department work as "The Gatekeepers" to ensure the patients are provided with the expert care necessary for successful patient outcomes.

Working within the multidisciplinary team provides not only expert care for patients but an opportunity for podiatrists to learn from their podiatry colleagues.

In addition, they will also learn from diabetes, vascular, orthopaedic, nursing and orthotic colleagues as there are multidisciplinary foot clinics occurring every day.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Maintain standards of conduct required by the HCPC to practice
• Act as a role model and clinical expert within diabetic foot management, promoting and demonstrating first class care through evidence based practice and research
• Take a lead on clinical care by independently managing a patient caseload trust wide with support from the multidisciplinary team
• Ensure that where appropriate each patient has a comprehensive wound assessment undertaken and is referred to the appropriate speciality
• Become expert in the use of offloading techniques including total contact casting, scotch cast boots, slipper casts and bedside orthotic
• Support the MDT by facilitating the booking of investigations and interpretation of results
• Act as an expert in the use of specific treatments and advanced wound techniques including sharp debridement of wounds, VAC & larvae therapy
• Provide advice on the most appropriate pressure relieving devices for specific conditions including liaison with the orthotics department for appropriate footwear provision
• Carry out measurements of transcutaneous oxygen tension pre and post angioplasty and post by-pass surgery
• Run early discharge clinics for complex patients in order to reduce length of stay for inpatients
• Attend weekly angiography meetings and present diabetic foot patients' medical history and feedback results to MDT.
• Identify areas of poor practice and respond appropriately ensuring the delivery of safe and effective practice
• Work closely with PCTs, Tissue Viability Nurse Specialist and podiatry services to ensure continuity of care
• Management aim for each podiatrist is to achieve the assessment, management and treatment of at least 8 complex patients attending the foot unit when in clinic per day.

Person specification Qualifications

• Degree in Podiatry
• HCPC Registration

Knowledge and Experience

• Evidence of significant post Graduate experience
• Identify Acute and Chronic Charcot Foot presentation

IMPORTANT

• Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you
• If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications
• To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert
• Please provide email addresses for referees where possible
• Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust's criminal records checking policy
• All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
• Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.