Advanced Vascular Podiatrist

Job overview

The Podiatry Department are looking to recruit an experienced and autonomous Band 7 Advanced Podiatrist with a Vascular speciality. The candidate will work to help develop the vascular services in the community alongside the high risk and diabetes provision in Cambridgeshire. The successful candidate will be based in Peterborough or Huntingdon, working predominantly in these areas, whilst working with the adjacent trusts and internally to provide excellent streamlined care across the acute and community services across the county.

The candidate will work in both the acute and community setting to provide high quality care to patients with active foot disease. Working alongside the Principal podiatrist and the team to develop and extend the remit of community vascular services. This senior role within the department requires good leadership skills across the county. The role also involves education to support peers internally to the trust and within the wider system.

The successful candidate will be a clinical expert in their field, and should be educated to master’s degree level with suitable experience in the management of the Vascular, High Risk and Diabetic Foot, or be working towards Masters level qualification. The candidate should be working at the level of a Band 7 Podiatrist within the Competency Skills Framework.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will apply advanced clinical practice skills to ensure patients with active foot disease received rapid diagnosis, optimisation and treatment.

The right candidate will work to develop and establish improved MDT across the county and to establish streamlined transfer of care across acutes sites, to ensure patients can be treated and managed effectively within community. The Band 7 Podiatrist will operate appropriate clinics across the county and oversee the management of the most complex foot cases.

The successful candidate will supervise Band 6 podiatrists to facilitate smooth step-up and step-down processes and oversee the signing off and reviewing of competencies. The right candidate will be proficient in the ability to work at advanced practice level and have a working knowledge in x-ray and blood interpretation to optimise patient care. There is an expectation to provide and lead on total contact casting and prescribing also. See the job description for full details.

It is a requirement of this role for the successful candidate to undertake a qualification in non-medical prescribing if this has already not been achieved. Please note a Masters level of study is required to pursue non-medical prescribing in our trust so where NMP has not been obtained the applicant must be willing to undertake Masters level study prior to NMP; this can be a module of MSc or a full MSc.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

To be responsible for advanced assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, implementation and evaluation of Podiatric care to a variety of new and existing patients with a wide range of clinical needs Care will be provided in a range of primary and secondary care settings, including Hospital Clinics, Ward Rounds, Health Centres as well as Residential Homes for the Elderly and Patients Homes

To use decision making processes to identify patients who require the intervention of other professionals and/or departmental specialist areas, following agreed departmental referral processes e.g. Consultant Diabetologist, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Biomechanics and Orthotics Departments.

To provide emergency access during working hours for both inpatients and outpatients and to identify those who require medical or surgical intervention or admission to hospital.

To make direct referrals to diagnostic services, using results to identify when patients require the intervention of other professionals and/or departmental specialists, following agreed referral pathways e.g. acute wound-care, biomechanical evaluation or surgical intervention.

To receive and provide complex, sensitive information and communicate effectively with patients and carers to gain informed consent.

To follow departmental clinical guidelines but have the discretion to interpret and make own clinical diagnosis and decisions within professional boundaries and using evidence-based practice.

To support implementation and organisation of foot health education programmes for patients, relatives and carers. To provide foot health training where appropriate for Primary Care, Secondary and Social Services Staff.

To be flexible and provide cover for other Podiatrists at short notice or during periods of absence.

To communicate and work effectively within multidisciplinary teams.

*DVLA have a number of reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.