Good morning all from a very warm Rugeley.
Like Rita, read your well written comments with interest. I am not a political animal and maybe very naive about may things with our profession so your posts informative cheers David.
I am dismayed that the profession I trained for and qualified in, A chiropodist in the field of Chiropody is almost becoming a dirty word. The case of Mark Russell is an interesting one in this case:
https://www.hcpc-uk.org/mediaandevents/pressreleases/index.asp?id=706
He has a BSC in Chiropody, appropriate at the time, he decides not to join the HCPC and they prosecute him for using his title he is very well formally recognised for being able to carry out appropriate footcare.
So simply put I am a chiropodist, it says so on my qualification certificate. I am a member of the HCPC who also confirm this is my title I now have to pay for the privilege of having every year. However it is becoming an unpleasant smell within the profession and the Society dropping the title condones the sneering carried out by many Podiatrists who look down their noses at practitioners like me.
A General Council is a possibility but like a coalition government I feel is destined for failure. I don’t perceive that there will ever be a mending of the deep and long standing divide of the professional bodies as long as it is encouraged to have a 3 tier system of professionality. I.e: FHP’s, Chiropodists, Podiatrists.
How many folk do we see now still clinging to the title ‘state registered’ over HCPC registered because old descriptions, though obsolete, are still recognised…? As younger folk come through the ranks am sure it will become a memory and an article in history books but cannot deny IMO in the current day and age chiropodists still have their place….