High Risk Advanced Podiatrist

Are you an experienced Podiatrist with a passion for high-risk foot care and an interest in developing your leadership skills? An exciting opportunity has arisen to join a dynamic and supportive podiatry team in West Hertfordshire.

This role is available as either a 12-month secondment or a permanent position, with full-time, part-time and flexible working options available. You will be part of a forward-thinking service that values innovation, collaboration and continuous professional development.

Working within a well-established and award-winning team, you will be supported to grow across all four domains of practice: clinical care, leadership, education and research. Dedicated support is provided by senior colleagues, including a Band 8a Principal Podiatrist, an Allied Health Professional (AHP) Lead and a Practice Development Podiatrist who will work with you to create a tailored development plan.

This is an excellent opportunity to advance your career while contributing to high-quality patient care within a community-focused service.

Main duties of the job

In this role, you will deliver high-quality podiatry care, with a focus on high-risk patients, while developing your leadership and service improvement skills.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing specialist assessment, diagnosis and treatment for patients with complex and high-risk foot conditions
• Supporting service delivery and contributing to the ongoing development of podiatry services
• Participating in leadership activities and quality improvement initiatives
• Contributing to education and training for colleagues and students where appropriate
• Engaging in research and service development projects to improve patient outcomes
• Working collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams to deliver coordinated care

You will also benefit from:

• Access to a wide range of learning opportunities, including courses, workshops and conferences
• Opportunities to rotate across multiple podiatry teams, gaining broad clinical experience
• Support to become a qualified Quality Improvement Practitioner
• Flexible working arrangements to support work-life balance

The role may involve working across different community locations within West Hertfordshire.

Job responsibilities

Successful applicants will be required to demonstrate alignment with the Trusts values & the behaviours aligned to those values - Accountability, Inclusion, Compassion, and Empowerment, alongside fulfilling the duties detailed in the attached Job Description and Person Specification.

Person Specification Education/Qualification

• BSc Degree in Podiatric Medicine or equivalent.
• Evidence of continual professional and personal development portfolio including postgraduate course attendance.
• Registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) with annotations POM-A, POM-S, and Independent Prescriber (or willingness to train in first year in post).
• Ionising radiation (medical exposure) regulations certificate - IR(ME)R and proficient in using PACS.
• Training in requesting and interpretation of investigations relevant to foot complications
• Education in advanced podiatric practice such as MSc in Podiatric Medicine or equivalent.

Experience

• Substantive experience of working at a band 6 level or above.
• Experience of case management of a high risk caseload: leadership of a High Risk/Vascular/Woundcare patient pathway.
• Experience of multidisciplinary and interagency working.
• Experience of clinical supervision, leading, teaching & mentoring others.
• Experience of continuous quality improvement, clinical pathway improvement, & service development.
• Knowledge of audit and risk assessment.
• Understand and apply principles of Clinical Governance within the 3 domains of quality.
• Understand equality and diversity and its implications in care provision.
• Experience of working in a fast paced NHS environment and managing competing demands.
• Experience of line management of others, including sickness absence management.
• Practical application of National high risk foot and lower limb prevention strategies, including The National Woundcare Strategy Programme.

Skills & Knowledge

• Employ excellent oral, listening and written communication skills to organise, present and report information effectively.
• Apply excellent interpersonal skills to ensure collaboration, mutual exchange of communication and support.
• Ability to professionally process safeguarding and distressing or uncomfortable situations, e.g. terminally ill patients, recognise report abuse of others, providing guidance to team members where appropriate.
• Ability to analyse patients concerns, their needs, and propose a range of effective solutions with adaptive communication styles.
• Ability to undertake sustained intricate work in using sensitive diagnostic tools and a range of surgical instruments, for example the management and debridement of tissue viability/wounds etc.
• Ability to cope with sometimes distressing settings and work tasks including wound care, necrotic tissue, neglected pathology and exposure to malodour, body fluids including blood and wound exudate.
• Ability to reflect on own practice as well as seek and accept feedback.
• Ability to understand, appreciate and articulate implications of data, and apply the learning to staff rota management and job planning, directing others as required.
• Planning, organising, and chairing team meetings.
• Development and implementation of Standard Operating Procedures.
• Experience of the review and updating of clinical systems templates.
• Ability to understand business continuity plans.
• Experience of implementation of Patient Group Directives to improve patient care pathways.

Key Attributes

• Able to communicate with respect, and discuss successfully, topics of conversation that can be challenging in planning patient care and through staff management.
• Able to cope with the demands of moving between sessional clinics. This may include carriage of clinical equipment.
• Hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010)

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£50,008 to £56,908 a yearper annum, inclusive of HCAS