Podiatry Assistant

This is an exciting opportunity to come and join a professional, friendly and supportive podiatry team delivering high quality foot health care to patients working as a podiatry assistant under delegated care-plans from your podiatry colleagues.

Podiatry assistants are an absolute key part of the team and we are in a position to recruit for a new cohort of Podiatry assistant colleagues due to recent retirements across the service footprint. This post is to cover the South East Locality area, covering Blyth, Cramlington and the surrounding areas. The areas of work include clinics, patients homes, residential and nursing care settings, GP surgeries and hospitals.

• The post holder is expected to:
• Provide professional, quality programmes of care to patients delegated to them by a Podiatrist in accordance with the care plan.
• Work across the service to ensure the smooth running of the service, working across a variety of environments.
• Assists the podiatrist to carry out footcare and health promotion activities.

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, covering one of the largest geographical areas of any NHS trust in the country. Leading in innovation and quality – opening a state of the art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare, this is the Northumbria Way! Please read ‘applicant guidance notes’ before submitting your application.

Understand, implement and adhere to care plans developed by a Podiatrist in a variety of settings, including clinic, residential homes and domiciliary visits.

Work autonomously but seek advice from a Podiatrist as necessary.

Carry out nail reduction of pathological and non- pathological nails using appropriate electrical and non- electrical equipment on patients who may be classed as a higher risk. This would include assessed people with diabetes and patients taking higher risk medication such as anticoagulants, steroids etc.

Use aseptic technique to apply dressings to any wound found on the foot, under the instruction of the podiatrist.

Manufacture replacement silicone orthoses previously prescribed by a Podiatrist.

Identify new developed foot pathologies, communicate implications to the patient and make appropriate referrals to the Podiatrist and/or Nurse/GP.

Review patient medication on a regular basis.

Prepare a sterile field and assist in nail surgery.

Encourage patients to adhere to their care plan and attend their planned review with the Podiatrist.

Maintain instruments and equipment, ordering replacements as required.

Assist patients with their footwear and hosiery where necessary.

Adhere to the Trust and/ or Departmental policies regarding prevention of cross infection, the control of substances hazardous to health and moving and handling when providing clinical services.