Case study
Sallyanne Lightbrow: private podiatrist
In Sallyanne's words:
"As a generalist podiatrist working in private practice, I feel embedded within my local community. I never know what's coming through the door, which is exciting and keeps my skills broad. It's easy to become stuck in a routine, so I enjoy stepping out into new areas of podiatry, where I can explore my own interests. I actively connect with other podiatrists and AHPs to prevent me from silo-working. The College's Branches are great for networking."
Sallyanne's experience:
Sallyanne reports often acting as a buffer to support GPs and AHPS by seeing clients with general foot problems, providing treatment, or signposting to relevant services. This is a similar concept to the First Contact Practitioner role. Sallyanne summarises this well, highlighting three areas:
- Gatekeeping - keeping clients out of the NHS services by providing frontline treatments and reducing unnecessary referrals
- Educating - providing clients with health promoting advice with their general and foot health to enable these individuals to manage self-care
- Signposting - providing clients with appropriate services or referrals to avoid wasted delays for care or treatments