The last remaining COVID restrictions in England have ended (24th Feb), in the Republic of Ireland the mandatory requirement to wear a mask was removed (28th Feb) and Scotland’s restrictions are due to end on 21^st March.

The guidance from NHS England, the UK Health Security Agency, the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency, and Public Health Wales continues to recommend Type II or Type IIR face coverings in healthcare settings.

The advice also recommends that: “physical distancing of one metre should still remain, increasing whenever feasible to two metres, across all health and care settings”. The guidance continues to recommend that staff and organisations continue to undertake risk assessments using ‘hierarchy of controls’ measures. This should include an evaluation of the ventilation in the area, operational capacity, physical distancing and prevalence of Covid-19.

This information is applicable to all health professionals.  The Government link is: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-management-of-exposed-healthcare-workers-and-patients-in-hospital-settings/covid-19-management-of-exposed-healthcare-workers-and-patients-in-hospital-settings. 

There is a good ‘Nursing Times’ article, that shares concern from a health professional prospective of what is likely to happen post 1^st April. https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/coronavirus/living-with-covid-19-what-new-plan-means-for-nurses-22-02-2022/

The guidance has also made a range of recommendations for occupational health practitioners working within the NHS, health or care settings. This has included re-emphasising that “prompt recognition” of cases of respiratory infection among health and care staff remains essential to limiting transmission. “All staff should be vigilant for any signs of respiratory infection and should not come to work if they have respiratory symptoms.

Full Infection Control Precautions can be found here Infection prevention and control for seasonal respiratory infections in health and care settings (including SARS-CoV-2) for winter 2021 to 2022 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

There are additional resources for your clinic including best practice hand wash, best practice hand rub and sample screening tools available via this link COVID-19: infection prevention and control (IPC) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In the Republic of Ireland with effect from 28th February, the mandatory requirement to wear masks was removed, whilst public health advice that masks should continue to be worn on public transport and in healthcare settings remains. Please see https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/aac74c-guidance-on-safe-use-of-face-coverings/

Health Education England is launching the standards for the foot health support workforce.

The Foot Health Standards are part of work which aims to increase the supply of podiatrists in the NHS, while expanding the role of the support workforce. The Standards will ensure that the NHS recognises the knowledge and skills of the wider foot health support workforce.

The Standards were open to consultation in late 2020. The responses of stakeholders have been used to further develop the Standards and to better understand the issues and challenges around this topic.

The Standards are intended to support the NHS in utilising the full skills mix of the foot health workforce to meet demand, by providing a clear understanding of the footcare treatments that the NHS podiatry support workforce and foot health practitioners can safely perform. The needs and safety of patients is central in this work. Employers and managers can use the Standards to effectively plan, develop, and deploy their support workforce.

From our work with support workers and services across the country we know there is wide variation in their education and training, and how they are deployed. This work will ensure that:

1. Patients and service users have access to skilled and consistently well-trained support workers who have a defined role within their team
2. support workers have access to development structures that provide opportunities to follow a richer and more rewarding career pathway
3. services can address the current variation in support worker roles, banding and progression
4. support worker roles can be at the heart of improvements in service delivery and transformation, including new models of care.

The main objective is to increase the supply into podiatry and ensure that the NHS recognises the knowledge and skills of the support workforce.

How to use the Standards

NHS managers can use the Standards to understand the treatments that different parts of their foot health support workforces can safely deliver. This will support them in ensuring that they have in place workforces with the skills mix they need to care for patients. This will help managers design services to meet increased patient demand.

Education providers can use the Standards to underpin the development of educational pathways into the NHS podiatry support workforce and onto pre-registration education and training programmes in podiatry. This will support the development and growth of the support and podiatrist workforces.

The development of the Standards was overseen by a Consortium of Foot Health Leaders who gathered to address the problem of the falling recruitment numbers on traditional routes into podiatry. The priority of the Consortium was to develop a foot health career ladder and educational resources that will support and increase the number of podiatrists and podiatry support workers working in the NHS. 

The work of the Consortium has enabled a better understanding of the workforce that provides foot care, with the aim of optimising this workforce for the benefit of those who use the services of any practitioner, in England, who work in this arena. 

For more information visit https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/allied-health-professions/education-employment/future-proofing-podiatry-workforce/standards-foot-health-workforce

Copy slides of the nail presentation written and presented by Martin Harvey (9th December 2020 via Zoom) are now available here Nailed_it

If you have any questions please contact our team info@cofh.org.uk

The College of Foot Health has agreed with HMCA to offer discounted rates for medical plans, dental plan, hospital cash plans, travel plan, income protection and vehicle breakdown products.

Are you paying too much for your present private medical plan? Why not take a look at the HMCA plans and compare the benefits and subscriptions offered? You may transfer to HMCA at any age and without a medical examination; there will be no break in protection and there is a 14 day money-back guarantee.

HMCA only offer medical plans to membership groups and can offer up to a 40% discount off the underwriter’s standard rates. This is a comprehensive plan which provides generous cash benefits for surgery and other charges

Who are HMCA? – HMCA has specialised in providing benefits and services to associations and professional groups since the 1970s. HMCA is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

For further information and quotations contact HMCA by telephone on 01423 799949 or visit the exclusive HMCA College of Foot Health website here: https://www.hmca.co.uk/icp

HMCA/S PLC (trading as Hospital and Medical Care Association, HMCA and HMCA Members) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN:307587). HMCA/s PLC is a company registered in England, company number: 01362094, registered office: Beech Hall, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, HG5 0EA.

Join our work to protect and grow the foot health workforce to meet patients’ needs. We are asking the Foot Health Community; Podiatrists, Foot health Practitioners and Assistant Practitioners in Podiatry to watch our webinar and respond to our survey so we can capture feedback from across the professions.

Join the discussion, watch our webinar, complete the survey.