Specialist Podiatrist Team Lead

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To undertake leadership programme and demonstrate good leadership skills.

To be able to lead a team including attending appropriate training and perform:

Line manager & HR duties.

Health & safety audits.

Risk assessments.

Root cause analysis.

To identify any concerns or training requirements of all staff and to help develop and provide these training needs appropriately.

To be responsible for mentoring / training students, junior staff and colleagues who are on rotation / placement and to assist in the training of Podiatry Assistants/HCA.

To act as a resource for clinicians within the department and set up and deliver training programmes as necessary, to other team members and staff from other disciplines.

To undertake specialised clinical duties dealing with frequent interruptions requiring prioritisation & re-prioritisation of workload on a daily basis.

To prioritise & evaluate all patient referrals to the podiatry service for their appropriateness and to identify to line manager any deficiencies.

To plan and manage own caseload and that of specialist podiatrists, podiatrists & podiatry assistants.

To be responsible for and able to, undertake a detailed advanced podiatric care assessment and review of all patients with advanced podiatric care needs by:

Diagnosing and formulating highly specified treatment regimes.

Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment given.

To develop treatment plans in consultation with the patient. This is to include provision and review of:

Exercise programmes.

Orthotics.

Specialist footwear.

Air cast boots.

Soft casting.

Contact casting.

To implement the Trust and the podiatry department’s policies and procedures with regards to this specialist area.

To ensure current best practice is included and updated in all clinical policies in this specialist area.

To develop protocols for treatment of common conditions within the specialty.

To make the Line Manager aware of any issues / problems regarding service delivery.

To monitor referral & treatment statistics, and provide written reports ensuring the service is managed in a cost effective efficient manner.

To carry out audit of the as requested by the Line Manager.

To participate with the recruitment process for Podiatry staff.

To authorise clinical stock as appropriate.

General Clinical Duties

To lead Podiatry clinical sessions in accordance with Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and College of Podiatry minimum standards for clinical practice.

To cover specialist podiatry clinics containing a wide range of patients, with long term conditions with active and high risk foot conditions.

To use highly developed physical skills; precision hand eye co-ordination in safe and effective scalpel technique when debriding ulcers and callosities, involving highly unpleasant substances i.e. body fluids.

To undertake, nail surgery & assessment procedures under local anaesthetic with use of phenol, and re-dressings, necessitating the need for a certificate in local anaesthesia.

To be responsible for prioritising patients according to their medical and podiatric needs, for urgent & non-urgent risk.

To supervise level of care according to the risk stratification of clinical pathways/ NICE guidelines.

To be responsible for initiating, interpreting and acting upon diagnostic tests including:

Swabs.

Blood tests.

X-ray.

MRI.

To ensure effective communication of highly complex information to patients and their relatives and carers to bring about a change in attitude and patient empowerment, utilising excellent negotiation and interpersonal skills.

To have the ability to deal sensitively with angry or distressed clients and diffuse potentially volatile situations. This may involve giving unwelcome news to patients or carers about the deterioration of their foot pathology.

To maintain accurate records of all patient consultations and related work.

To plan and organise home visits, assessing and reviewing complex patients on the caseload in their own home if clinically indicated.

To facilitate discharge planning of patient.

To ensure the maintenance and security of all clinical stock and equipment, IT equipment, health promotion and educational resources.

To facilitate and present the podiatry patient and carer education talks that will influence patients’ attitudes and change their historical mind set towards their foot health and evaluate these sessions.

To work within infection control guidelines to ensure that therapy/treatment/care does not constitute a risk of infection either to the healthcare professional to the client or to any persons visiting/working in Trust premises or patient’s own home.

Act as a role model and lead for infection prevention within the department.

To work in isolation within community clinics, hospitals, residential homes, and patient’s homes, liaising with other health care professionals involved with the patient whenever necessary.

To work flexibly including working weekends where appropriate.

Professional Duties 

To maintain a registration with the Health Care Professional Council (HCPC).

To work within the HCPC code of conduct & SWFT policies and procedures; with awareness of all government NHS agendas and NICE guidelines.

To develop and maintain further competencies in the field of advanced podiatric care and to disseminate such knowledge to other podiatry staff.

To demonstrate a commitment to CPD and lifelong learning.

To undertake mandatory training updates as per SWFT policy.

To participate in a Personal Development Plan (PDP) with line manager & undertake PDPs with junior staff.

To attend all staff meetings & department training events.

To attend, present at and represent the department at meetings to raise the profile and market podiatry services.

To initiate and undertake regular audit review programmes to ensure delivery of best practice.

To respect the confidentiality, equality, diversity and privacy of clients and staff at all time.

Communications and Working Relationships

To liaise with other health care professionals in both primary, secondary, tertiary & third party sectors arranging for admittance for patients to secondary care as deemed necessary.

To participate in team, professional and personal development activities and promote commitment to continuous development and improvement.

To work effectively as a member of the multi-professional team, ensuring effective communication with other professionals in the necessary delivery of all aspects of the service.

 General

To travel across the Trust and where necessary to other organisations/agencies the post holder will be required to have access to independent means of transport for work purposes.

To ensure that all information relating to patients and staff gained through employment with the Trust is kept confidential.

To have appropriate IT skills for:

Patient record keeping and caseload planning/management.

Data input/collection on patient information systems.

Use of the Internet and Email.

Use of Office Tools such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

To have the skill and experience in the production and presentation of health education and promotional information to the public and specialist material/training to other Health Professionals.