Podiatry

Introduction

Podiatry is a Cinderella service, to most of the general public an unknown service, to those who use it a service of hope and health promotion.

Our Podiatry staff are available over all three separate hospital sites. Inpatients and Outpatients are cared for at specialised clinics. These are primarily concerned with the higher risk patients - those with peripheral vascular or neurological diseases. There is also a strong Community Podiatry commitment in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes area.

Our staff are all enthusiastic, well motivated and committed to providing a high standard of clinical care which is patient focused according to their specific needs. Our clinics are all modern and well equipped. Most are part of multi-surgery clinics and a strong team-working ethos is in place. Continual Professional Development is given a high priority within our Trust to maximise our service to ensure that it remains a modern forward looking service. There is a formal quality assurance system within the department, including clinical audit by peer review and clinical supervision.

Our staff have a very strong interest in orthotics and biomechanics, particularly in the younger patient. We also perform nail surgery on a regular basis. There are also a number of areas, particularly diabetes, rheumatology and orthotics where we have a strong multi-disciplinary presence.

Excellence

The Diabetes Centre at Scunthorpe General Hospital has a reputation of outstanding excellence amongst its patient users and fellow health professional referrers. Patient access to treatment (usually 24 hour for emergency), information and most important of all respect for the patient are the elements of the podiatry ethos.

Foot problems are commonplace but there are few centres that can boast success like Northern Lincolnshire and Goole, a point made evident when recently the Diabetes Centre at Scunthorpe General Hospital was nominated for a national award.

The most important aspect for podiatry care is the patient, few things are more gratifying than a heartfelt 'thank you' from patients and their families. Our DNA (Did Not Attend) rate is negligible, waiting times low, patient appreciation high, staff satisfaction high. The future for podiatry in NLG is one of an emergent positive health promoting innovative service.

The question to ask is "would I recommend this service to a family member", the answer is an unequivocal "YES".