Footnotes: Foothealth

Footnotes

Foot Health Practitioners News - Issue 11

Hi everyone.

I hope that this editorial finds you all fit and well. Maybe slightly sunburnt after the wonderful weather that we have had for the last few months. As I write this, it has been raining for the last couple of days, which is perfectly timed, as my holiday starts next Friday. I can always take an umbrella.

On Sunday morning I was getting ready to take my dogs for their morning walk, when the telephone rang, I thought to myself, let the answer machine pick it up. But as I was almost standing next to it, I answered. It was a local Foot Health Practitioner, who over the last few months I have got to know quite well.

As we are both very busy at this time, we refer patients that we can’t accommodate to each other. He was not trained by the IoCP, but I won’t hold that against him.

He started the conversation with the normal “Hello, how are you…” and then a question. “I would like to ask you a favour…” I thought he had a difficult patient who he perhaps wanted me to give him a second opinion, or maybe, he had run out of gloves or something simple like that, but no.

“Ian,” he said,”I have a painful corn on the plantar metatarsal area of my right foot. I have tried to sort it out myself, but I can’t reach it, could you look at it for me?” I said “Yes, of course I can, do you want to pop round in about an hour?” He was very grateful, and the appointment was made.

At this point I started to get a little nervous! What if he had been taught differently to me, would he think I was doing it wrong. Lots of thoughts were running around my head, was I up to the job? My wife, who happens to be a Chiropodist, asked me if I wanted her to do it, but I declined the offer.

I AM an FHP. I deal with things like this every day, why should he be any different? The doorbell rang, it’s him. I took a deep breath and answered the door. We sat down, had a cup of coffee and spoke about some of the patients that we have dealt with, had a very nice chat and lots of laughs. And then the time came. We went through to the surgery, he sat in the chair and I put on my gloves.

It was almost like Martin Harvey was standing behind me, watching.

I cleaned his foot with a wet wipe, and there it was, a small Heloma Durum. I had it out in about two shakes of a dog’s tale. (Thanks Martin!) I had never thought about it before, but I suppose Dentists need to see Dentists, Doctors need to see Doctors, so it stands to reason that FHPs need to see each other. I was very worried about treating someone who works in the same profession but at the end of the day my training and experience shone through.

For the record, he said his foot felt a lot better, and if you were wondering, no, I didn’t charge him.

I hope you all enjoy what is left of the Summer.

Best Regards Ian

Denise

Graduation Day JUNE 2022

Gail Stuart Molly

Martin & the Graduation Group

Erin

The podiatry instrument packs given to students are sponsored by Heeley Surgical

Aziza

Congratulations!

Katrina

Dear readers, my name is Molly Symonds-Hall, and I am honored to share with you my experiences as a young foot health practitioner starting out in the world of podiatry.

For most people, leaving university is the final step forward into their career - the beginning of their independent lives. Having entered the working world at 18, it became clear to me very quickly that interacting with a computer screen from 9 to 5; demanding emails and endless spreadsheets was not what I was happy doing until retirement.

But what did make me happy? What gave me purpose? That was something I was still discovering and it was a discovery ultimately made, in the most unlikely way. Having suffered with painful, ingrown toe-nails for as long as I can remember, (to even touch them was agony), I finally decided enough was enough and booked an appointment with a local podiatrist for surgery. It took some convincing to get me there. The nippers and the anesthetic injections terrified me, but the podiatrist who performed the procedure was excellent at putting me at ease with friendly conversation and a calm approach. As I began to relax, I actually found myself fascinated with the mechanics of the surgery. It’s not often you can describe a visit to a medical professional for a painful procedure as a positive experience, yet as I left the clinic, I could not have been more glad to have gone. A couple of weeks later, at my follow-up appointment, I was talking to my podiatrist about my new-found fascination and how sympathetic I was to people who were still suffering as I had been. As luck would have it, the podiatrist was looking at expanding the clinic due to high-demand, and offered to let me shadow her in my free time. For the first time in years, I was excited about going into a work-space.

A week later I had signed up to the COFH Foot Health Practitioner course. For the next six months, I shadowed and studied at every opportunity, passing the theory exams, until finally in June the first real test came. My two weeks practical assessment at the College of Foot Health in Southport. Whilst I was initially nervous about the idea of spending two weeks with a dozen strangers, the course had a really welcoming atmosphere (I still keep in touch with the other students) and the tutors were fantastic, showing us the ropes but also trusting us to get in there and get some real experience. By far my favourite part was working on the real life patients. The practical experience of working on people’s feet, confirmed for me once and for all, that this is what I wanted to do. I feel a great sense of gratification when I can help people by listening to them and giving them the appropriate care that they need. When they leave feeling like they are walking on air that is the best feeling of all. I am due to start the Podiatry degree at Huddersfield University later this year and I’m incredibly excited to kick start my career and give my patients more advanced knowledge and advice. Since finishing college, I have been working in the local podiatry clinic and have a handful of my own patients to look after now. It’s a surreal feeling to be treating others that were once in my position and I can’t wait for what my future holds.

I am often asked about how long we need to continue wearing masks or personal protective equipment (PPE) in practice. For health professionals while dealing with patients this is something we all will continue to do as part of our duty of care to patients, if not ourselves. Pre Covid we were able to go mask free, except for certain procedures, including burring nails, surgery, etc.

Many of us have probably suffered less colds or influenza, as well as Covid-19 because of vaccinations and PPE and wearing masks. But mask wearing also has its downfalls with many practitioners having or still suffering from mask acne, but it is a small price to pay to keep yourself and your patients protected from the possibility of contracting Covid-19, or its many variants.

PPE costly, yes, but again a small price to pay to protect yourselves from dust, fluids, etc., during your daily practice. Protecting your clothing and uniforms from collecting and holding onto any viruses that tend to stay in materials for the short-term, until they are washed.

Mask wearing and PPE - for how long?

By Beverley Wright

Chair of Ethics and Vice-Chair of Education

It is likely that mask and PPE wear will be more convenient from 31 August 2022. This is because routine asymptomatic testing in England will be stopped across the NHS, adult social care and hospice services, parts of the prison estate and detention and some domestic abuse refuges and homelessness settings. Free testing for the public stopped in April 2022, while hospitals health care and nursing home settings, etc., could continue to test regularly for free. Testing will remain for those with symptoms of Covid, immunocompromised patients in hospitals, anyone being admitted into care homes and hospices. Particularly, when there are outbreaks in certain high-risk settings such as care homes. It is interesting that despite the government’s reasons due to falling rates in the number of deaths and hospitalization in England. While also being a government cost cutting exercise. It is a worrying time for the NHS and the public about the safety and resilience of services being provided. Particularly, as there are still about 3 out of 4 individuals with asymptomatic symptoms that will test positive for Covid-19, or its many variants. Although, covid-cases have appeared to fall, the virus has not been eradicated. So, it is important to continue to be vigilant, so that health professionals and their patients are not put at any further risk. Recently, I lost a patient when a District nurse who contracted covid, came back to work, admitting to and visibly being unwell, visited my two vulnerable patients. A husband and wife, married for over 60 years, both sadly suffering from terminal cancer, days later they contracted covid and were both blue-lighted to hospital. One came home, the other did not having died of covid induced pneumonia.

COVID-19 pneumonia is a horrible way to die. It tends to be more severe than other forms of pneumonia. Studies have shown that ‘Pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2, when compared to other forms of pneumonia, including influenza, creates an even more inflammatory type of infection that might be responsible for its severity and prolonged course in some people’. (Grant, Morales-Nebreda, et al).

While we lose government and health resources that have kept us safe, during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is important to keep our own protective procedures in place, as a duty of care to our patients and protecting ourselves.

All the best Beverley

Chair of Ethics and Vice-Chair of Education

REFERENCES

Grant, R.A., Morales-Nebreda, L., Markov, N. S. January 2021. Circuits between infected macrophages and T cells in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.