POSITION STATEMENT POM-A

Injections of medicines including  intra and peri – articular injection therapies

 by HCPC registered Podiatrists with POM-A annotation

Qualified podiatrists who are awarded licences in POM-A (prescription only medicine- administration), as either part of their undergraduate degree or as stand-alone qualifications are given statutory permission to administer medicines by injection that they may lawfully access**. The POM-A licence also contains a specific permission to obtain (without the usually required prescription) :  a range of injectables which include various local anaesthetics, adrenaline (epinephrine) and the anti-inflammatory synthetic steroid methylprednisolone. This permission continues whilst said podiatrist remains on the statutory register of the Health and Care Professions Council, and ceases should they leave, or be removed from, the stated register.

Whilst so registered they can legally obtain**all of the medicines above, including the steroid, and administer** them, without further training or permission.

However, it is a requirement of safe and responsible practice that podiatrists with POM-A  must ensure that they a) have a full and detailed understanding of the pharmacology of said medicines including their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (essentially how the body affects the drugs and the drugs affect the body) and b) they have suitable medical indemnity insurance for use of the items above. In respect of the local anaesthetics, a) is included in the approved courses which grants POM-A ,  so b) is included in most malpractice policies. In respect of the licensed steroid however, the Institute requires the completion of an approved course which explains, in substantial detail, the action of when TO use, and perhaps even more importantly when NOT to use the permitted steroid.  By virtue of the holding of a POM-A licence it is clear that the holders are already trained and safe injectors and the simple techniques of safe administration will already be known, but nonetheless, these are specifically restated (with some practical tips and information pearls) during the course and delegates to the course will readily grasp the analogy between  local anaesthetics and steroids.

To this end, the Institute’s course is designed by, and taught by, highly qualified podiatrist independent prescribers and due to its carefully designed structure permits the Institute’s insurers to offer insurance cover to allow members who have successfully attended the Institute’s approved course to commence its use independently without requiring further permission or ‘mentoring’. **Prescription-only-medicines that usually require prescription by a recognised prescriber can, where defined by law, be made available to defined members of certain legally regulated professions under statutory ‘exemptions’ to the 1968 Medicines act and its numerous subsequent amendments. The exempted substances may be purchased at retail or wholesale from regulated pharmacies or other legal UK sources. Note that ‘administration’ in the context of the above must be within the professional activities of the aforesaid practitioner with the said ‘exemption’.  The exemption is not in law a ‘prescription’ and does not permit mixing of medicines,  nor does it permit the holder of said exemption to direct  others to mix and or administer them (a patient specific direction from a registered prescriber is required for directing others to mix/administer) The position of epinephrine is less well determined by the above, as this falls within the parameters applying to medicine identified as being within schedule 19 of the 1968 medicines act (and amendments) wherein its legal category is relaxed when used with the provable intent of saving or preserving life in an emergency situation.

All members of the Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists (IOCP) and College of Foot Health can now access eIntegrity’s e-learning resources to support their professional development.

Members can use the Statutory and Mandatory Training, Dementia e-Learning Programme and Antimicrobial Resistance learning sessions. The programmes have been chosen for their relevance to practitioners in the IOCP – which represents HCPC[1]-registered podiatrists, podiatric surgeons and chiropodists in the UK.

Beverley Wright, Vice-Chair of the Board of Education, from the IOCP, said: “We’re pleased to offer these three programmes as a free benefit to our members, as part of our commitment to them.

“The practice of health and social care is built on effective communication and the ability to problem solve. This can be achieved remotely via distance learning programmes, such as eIntegrity’s, to develop our members’ understanding of statutory and mandatory content on Government and health guidelines, rules and regulations, and to facilitate professional development. It provides a foundation for all working aspects of our members’ practice.

“In today’s society there are a number of aspects that underpin health and social care, where continued professional development (CPD) is required and needs to be considered when delivering care. These CPD resources help equip members with the knowledge and understanding of key health issues, focusing on the main conditions prevalent in our society today.”

Richard Bryant, from eIntegrity, said: “We are delighted to make our e-learning available to the institute. Now, more than ever, we know that health and care professionals are finding our e-learning resources invaluable to support their development.

“We look forward to building on our relationship with the institute in the longer term and finding out how best we can support their members.”

[1] Health and Care Professions Council

MEMBERS – please login to the members area of our website (top right) for full terms & conditions, user guides and for further details on how you can sign up.

 

Whilst the Coronavirus pandemic has changed the ways  in which we are all working, or not in many cases, people around the world are embracing and testing boundaries of modern technology. This is also true of our team at Head Office. As always the IOCP are committed to maintaining and offering our members the best possible service and support until such a time that we can start to go back to normal.

Therefore we have launched weekly Wednesday webinars, aptly dubbed “Wed-inars” to keep members and fellow podiatry colleagues in-touch and earning CPD during our period of downtime. It’s FREE, it’s for YOU!

Our first webinar was held on the 1st April and was warmly received by all attendees. If you missed it, a recording of the meeting can be found via our events pages or via our social sites.

The subjects are added to our events calendar on our website. You can register either via our Facebook page or by emailing info@iop-uk.org with the subject line “Wed-inar CPD”.

From the 17th April, we will be introducing FHP Fridays for our Foot Health Practitioner friends of The College of Foot Health. More details of these will be released shortly.

If you are a Podiatrist or a FHP and would like a specific topic covered please get in touch and we’ll see what we can do!

Stay Safe.