Recommended titles for practitioners and students

The Institute of Podiatrists are excited and proud to have commissioned 2 dynamic and important handbooks written specifically by way of an introduction to the foot and as a supportive learning companion. Written by David R Tollafield, a highly experienced podiatry professional and renowned podiatric author.

An introduction to the foot & its common problems in the adult

The challenging subject of foot and lower limb mechanics is admirably clarified and easy to follow in this 180-page paperback, Pocket sized book. Well- illustrated, clear and informative, this book will appeal to podiatrists and foot health practitioners at all levels, whether you are new to the anatomy and workings of the foot or as a reference for reminder. This book will also appeal to other professions and healthcare professionals who have an interest in the foot.

The Foot – a professional learning companion

This companion course, sets out different styles of questions, offering tips for open and closed methods, especially multi-choice options.

Divided into two parts: questions in the first and detailed explanations in the second part. Supporting self-assessment for foot health practitioners and students on university courses, this handy aid helps understand the finer parts of foot health science in eight study areas.

Understanding the Human Foot: An Illustrated Guide to Form and Function for Practitioners by James Earls

Understanding the Human Foot is a full-colour, up-to-date overview of the structure and function of the foot, written for physical therapists and movement practitioners looking to deepen their understanding of holistic anatomy. Readers will gain perspective on the impacts of foot shape; the interdependence of form and function; and the cellular processes that determine how our tissue is designed. Most importantly, author James Earls demonstrates how the foot relates to and interacts with the rest of the body during movement, laying the groundwork for a comprehensive holistic approach to assessing, troubleshooting, and addressing functional and structural foot issues.

Written by Helen Rawse

To read this article please click here https://iop-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Bullous-Pephigoid.pdf

Case Notes is a regular feature in the IoCP quarterly publication – Podiatry Review. Every member will have seen unusual patients and/or will have unusual conditions which will be of interest to the readership, colleagues and peers.

Case Notes is an expansion on your own medical notes ensuring you do not identify the patient, unless you have written consent.

We welcome all submissions of your findings to be featured in our Podiatry Review, please contact media@iop-uk.org for more information or to submit your case!

Health Education England is launching the standards for the foot health support workforce.

The Foot Health Standards are part of work which aims to increase the supply of podiatrists in the NHS, while expanding the role of the support workforce. The Standards will ensure that the NHS recognises the knowledge and skills of the wider foot health support workforce.

The Standards were open to consultation in late 2020. The responses of stakeholders have been used to further develop the Standards and to better understand the issues and challenges around this topic.

The Standards are intended to support the NHS in utilising the full skills mix of the foot health workforce to meet demand, by providing a clear understanding of the footcare treatments that the NHS podiatry support workforce and foot health practitioners can safely perform. The needs and safety of patients is central in this work. Employers and managers can use the Standards to effectively plan, develop, and deploy their support workforce.

From our work with support workers and services across the country we know there is wide variation in their education and training, and how they are deployed. This work will ensure that:

1. Patients and service users have access to skilled and consistently well-trained support workers who have a defined role within their team
2. support workers have access to development structures that provide opportunities to follow a richer and more rewarding career pathway
3. services can address the current variation in support worker roles, banding and progression
4. support worker roles can be at the heart of improvements in service delivery and transformation, including new models of care.

The main objective is to increase the supply into podiatry and ensure that the NHS recognises the knowledge and skills of the support workforce.

How to use the Standards

NHS managers can use the Standards to understand the treatments that different parts of their foot health support workforces can safely deliver. This will support them in ensuring that they have in place workforces with the skills mix they need to care for patients. This will help managers design services to meet increased patient demand.

Education providers can use the Standards to underpin the development of educational pathways into the NHS podiatry support workforce and onto pre-registration education and training programmes in podiatry. This will support the development and growth of the support and podiatrist workforce

The development of the Standards was overseen by a Consortium of Foot Health Leaders who gathered to address the problem of the falling recruitment numbers on traditional routes into podiatry. The priority of the Consortium was to develop a foot health career ladder and educational resources that will support and increase the number of podiatrists and podiatry support workers working in the NHS.

The work of the Consortium has enabled a better understanding of the workforce that provides foot care, with the aim of optimising this workforce for the benefit of those who use the services of any practitioner, in England, who work in this arena.

To view the standards visit Standards for the Foot Health Workforce | Health Education England (hee.nhs.uk)

We are delighted to have welcomed so many new members. We are run by podiatrists for podiatrists, and with your continued support and invaluable feedback we continue to grow, expanding our connections and networks to bring you the best support, advice, collaborations and of course our unrivalled insurance packages!

Key benefits of IoP membership 2024:

• Community Trade Union – pay monthly trade union advice and support with FREE online learning
• Discounted rates with HMCA
• Regional networking
• Exclusive access and discounted rates to our CPD courses and events

…and all existing membership benefits, including access to industry leading malpractice insurance, quarterly Podiatry Review, monthly e-newsletters, and more interaction with our elect committee for help, advice and support when you need it!

Terms and Conditions of membership

Membership of the Institute of Podiatrists is granted at the absolute discretion of the Membership Committee.

Membership is not an automatic right, it is a benefit for members who adhere to our reasonable rules and treat other members, staff and partners with respect.  We may, in the event of misuse of membership, using reasonable discretion, decide to suspend or terminate your membership at any time.  Failure to pay membership fees is not the only reason to terminate membership, conduct and misuse of membership can also lead to that result, such as, but is not limited to, behaviour which is troublesome or shows lack of respect towards fellow members, staff, or partners; criminal actions; or actions which are generally perceived to be immoral, unethical or contrary to the IoP’s membership rules.  In the event of an application being declined or membership being terminated no correspondence will be entered into.

4 easy ways to renew:

1. Renew online – simply sign in to the members area here iop-uk.org/members/login/

2. Pay by bank transfer 

3. or by direct debit 

4. By phone 01704 546 141

or

join us by visiting https://iop-uk.org/application-form/ leave your details and we’ll do the rest!

NOTE: Colleagues applying for membership from the Republic of Ireland who wish to take advantage of our insurance, please be aware the insurance is tailored to your scope of practice and our insurance partners may need to discuss this with you prior to agreeing cover and premium.

Health Education England, along with the Foot Health Consortium are launching a consultation to seek the views of stakeholders on a draft set of standards for the foot health practitioner and podiatry support workforce.

The consultation will be open from Monday 23 November 2020 – midday Friday 15 February 2021.

The Standards have been developed to support the NHS to effectively use the full skills mix of the foot health workforce to meet demand by providing a clear understanding of the footcare treatments that foot health practitioners and the podiatry support workforce can safely perform. The needs and safety of patients is central in this work.

We would therefore value your feedback about the standards via the consultation and look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions as we take this vital and important next step.

Please visit the HEE consultation webpage for the consultation survey link and two important documents that will help you respond to the consultation.

The Consultation on standards for the non–regulated foot health workforce sets out the background to the work to develop the Standards. It then explains more about how the Standards have been developed and how it is proposed they will be used. The draft Standards on which we are seeking your feedback have been published alongside this consultation document.

Visit the HEE website for the Standards and Consultation document that will accompany the consultation

In 2019, we gathered as a Consortium of Foot Health Leaders to address the problem of the falling recruitment numbers on traditional routes into podiatry. The priority of the Consortium is to develop a foot health career ladder and educational resources that will support and increase the number of podiatrists and podiatry support workers working in the NHS.

The work of the Consortium has enabled a better understanding of the workforce that provides foot care, with the aim of optimising this workforce for the benefit of those who use the services of any practitioner, in England, who work in this arena.

These Foot Health Education and Training Standards are the result of a year’s work to increase the supply of podiatrists in the NHS workforce. We also want to ensure that the NHS recognises the knowledge and skills of the wider foot care support workforce.

Up to 80% of the population are estimated to need the services of either an NHS or private podiatrist at some stage of their life, to deal with health problems of the feet. Whilst parts of the profession have continued to provide urgent emergency treatments during the current pandemic, podiatry now has to work out new methods of returning to its additional roles of regular preventative care for the many millions of people, including many  vulnerable people such as diabetics, who need such care every year. Podiatrist Martin Harvey, chief executive of the national professional body the Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists said; “our members face the challenge that in order to work on peoples feet we are certainly not socially distant, so we have had to implement and develop new systems of working giving the maximum possibly safety to patient and podiatrist alike. Let me reassure the public that as regulated Health Professionals we are ensuring that we adhere to the highest possible standards of personal protection equipment and your feet are as safe as we can possibly make them in our hands. Members of the public can see the detailed guidance available to our members on the Institutes website https://www.iop-uk.org “

Dear members,

We have sourced some protective visors for your use. The visors are being printed by students in Hertfordshire using 3D printers. The students are creating the visors for frontline staff who cannot obtain, afford and/or access PPE.

The Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, as well as The College of Foot Health, are proud to support the students efforts by covering costs of materials. Please note the visors available via The Institute are being sold on at cost price and no profit is being made by either us or the students involved.

Alternative visors and PPE equipment is available via our trusted trade partners as set out in May newsletter.

If you would like to order a pack of 10 visors, cost £10 per pack, and help support the students efforts please email info@iop-uk.org

Stay Safe.

Now in its second year, The College of Foot Health Ltd, was established and fully accredited by the UK professional organisation The Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists to clearly announce and support the professional status of Foot Health Practitioners.

In more recent months our team have been working with Health Education England (HEE) on the Foot Health Consortium, established to set an agreed benchmark for training, standards, ethics and continuing professional development within the profession.

As a result of this and with the continuing growth and requirement for Foot Health Practitioners within our society/community, we are delighted to launch our dedicated social media pages specifically for Foot Health Practitioners. You can follow us now via twitter @TheCoFH and like our page @TheCoFH on Facebook, where we will be sharing all FHP related articles from our dedicated newsletter, information on CPD training, events and details on our online course to become an FHP.

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.

Whether you are a Podiatry member or are looking to join us, we want to ensure you’re aware of what The Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists (IOCP) has to offer by answering some of your frequently asked questions and reminding you of the key benefits of our membership and insurance.

Q: Are members of the IOCP HCPC registered?

A: Yes. Membership of the Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists is only open to practitioners registered with the Health and care Professions Council (HCPC) who meet the HCPC conditions for registration. Members may use the protected titles of Chiropodist and/or Podiatrist.  As a condition of membership it is mandatory to undertake to adhere to the Institutes strict code of ethics and professional conduct which is supplementary to the requirements of the HCPC.

Q: What makes you different to other organisations?

A: The Institute is a democratic organisation with the election of officers both local and national being decided bi-annually by members. All members therefore play an active role in their own affairs. For more than 80 years the Institute, and its precursor the Joint Council of Chiropodists, has followed an independent line at the forefront of the profession it serves, for the progress and well-being of both the profession and the public.

Q: As an individual member do my opinions count? Do I really have a voice?

A: We are a truly  democratic organisation managed for members by a democratically elected executive board of members, who are themselves active clinicians , we listen and act upon your feedback.  Each member has a voice, as a member with us you are able to raise concerns and or queries at Regional levels or at our National AGM where there is a designated question time for members to raise questions. In addition, you can always contact the full-time staff at Head Office who operate under the direction of the elected board.

Q: Can I be a member of the IOCP and have membership elsewhere?

A: Yes. The Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists is open to ALL HCPC registered professionals.

Q: What designatory letters can I use after my name?

A: If you are a full member of the IOCP and HCPC registered you can use MInstChP. Fellows can use FInstChP and consultant fellows of the Institute Faculty of Podiatric Medicine FPodM.

Q: How much of my membership fee does the institute spend on paying staff and directors instead of using it for the direct benefit of members?

A: We naturally have to have full – time administration staff who are paid the average wage for such jobs. Staff numbers are kept to the bare minimum necessary to look after member’s needs. All directors and other officers are voted in biannually from the membership, by the membership. They volunteer their services freely and receive no payment for such services nor payment for loss of earnings when on IOCP business, they may claim actual ‘out of pocket’ expenses for items such as travel to meetings and basic overnight accommodation in a Travelodge or similar, but that is all.

Q: Does the IOCP support Foot Health Practitioners (FHP)?

A: The IOCP acknowledges the valuable support FHP’s provide to our profession and although we do not allow FHP’s membership of the IOCP we do support their work through The College of Foot Health provided each individual can demonstrate a level of recognised training, practice and ethics that meet high standards.

Q: What do you insure?

A: Our insurance is bespoke to your needs. We currently offer 4 levels of cover which ranges from basic Podiatry skills to diagnostic ultrasound and Cryoanalgesia Treatment. Please see our Insurance page

Q: I want to use leading-edge therapies that seem to fall outside the usual podiatry indemnity insurance products, can the IOCP help me?

A: With a background stretching back some eighty years from our founding in 1938 as The Joint Council of Chiropodists of Great Britain and Ireland, we have vast experience of the changes in the level of practice in Chiropody / Podiatry and Insurers value the excellent claims record of our responsible membership. We have what many regards as the widest range of ‘standard’ indemnity insurance cover in UK podiatry and our specialist brokers can usually offer individually tailored quotations for the ‘different’ therapies via specialist underwriters.

Q: I qualified as a Chiropodist but also have qualifications in Reflexology and applying Paraffin Wax to the Hands and Feet.  Is there an insurance policy to cover all 3 or do I have to keep them separate?

A: We have a comprehensive range of professional indemnity insurances that are appropriate to individual levels of practice, there are 4 standard levels of cover, all you need to do is choose which one covers your needs and pay the appropriate premium. In addition we may be able to facilitate bespoke underwriting for therapies and procedures that may lie outside the mainstream.

Q: Do I have to attend all of the education/courses at our National Training Centre, as I live over 7 hours away?

A: Not at all, although we run many specialist courses at the Nation Training Centre many are also run regionally.  You can access these via our website, contacting Head Office or there will be details in your Podiatry Review.

Q: Are there any opportunities to meet up with like-minded individuals for educational, trade and social events?

A: Regional seminars or great for this purpose or you may like to attend our National AGM at the NEC in Birmingham this year.

Q: Can I get questions answered out of office hours?

A: We have an excellent support network through either regional support links or try our members only forum.

Q: Are there any opportunities as a member to expand my knowledge and broaden my horizons?  As an experienced practitioner of 30+ years I would like to give something back.

A: The IOCP have a team of hard-working National Officers, who stand for a period of 2 years.  We are always looking for new, energetic and hardworking members to continue to ensure the smooth running and longevity of the organisation.   The criteria is a minimum of 5 years as an IOCP member and they must be H.C.P.C. Registered.

KEY BENEFITS

• MaPP . The Medicines and Procedures Panel is led by an experienced chair and includes senior academics, consultant Podiatrists, Podiatrist Independent Prescribers and Podiatric Surgeons. It can provide measured and considered advice to members who may wish to have guidance on new or novel therapies, therapeutic agents or other treatments.
• We work hard to bring you all the latest industry news and work with various trade partners to offer special rates and benefits for members, as well as with key organisations to inform you of the latest MUST attend events!
• Free “find a practitioner” listing on our website
• Quarterly issues of our Podiatry Review, which can contribute towards your CPD.
• Business Support from our advice partners.
• CPD courses requested by you!