06/01/2026
Good Afternoon,
Today I was reminded of our complaint processes in Chiropody and Podiatry clinics.
I wanted to encourage people to think about getting the best care and to encourage a prevention is better than cure approach, however, a complaint process is expected for every medical service.
So just to lay it out,
Typically, you would expect the same complaint process wherever you go.
1) You are encouraged to resolve the complaint with the person giving the treatment in the first place.
Text them, try to phone call them (I know it’s hard as they’re in clinic and phones are often on silent while they work )but first , try explain the physical presenting issue.
At this stage the Professional will want to resolve it practically and may need to clarify more and invite you in.
2) if no satisfactory result from that ( lets assume you have been prevented from stage 1)
patients are encouraged to put it in writing a letter or an email and there is often a 28 day window of time for a responses.
This would be the ‘formal complaints procedure’ we often see in public health and care services.
Useful information:
Fundamentally
All podiatrists want to resolve clinical issues quicker than any other healthcare setting I have known.
We sign the Hippocratic oath and take it in
‘ first do no harm’.
Podiatrists want to ‘ jump in’ and cure any sign of infection as that’s our training.
We prevent ulcers and amputations and have trained in how to manage the many different types of wounds/
Our wound care is as good as district nurses my tutor at uni developed the Texas wound care scale that other specialists now use.
That means you coming back into the clinic sooner rather than later.
Podiatrists will often start earlier/run over hours to get you in later/move less urgent patients upon their permission for this
Move
family commitments and even email a GP for an urgent appointment on your behalf if they are away.
We aren’t an emergency service but we will be able to sign post you to one if that’s what is needed.
Obviously, clinically, they want to have the limb/ knee/foot in front of them to review and re-treat.
Pictures are no good at this stage. You need to come in person to be seen.
All HCPC registered podiatrists that I have known are clinically expert ( by the nature of their medical degree and training in hospitals, undertaken 12 toe nail surgeries and over thousands of clinic with real patients- they know how to diagnose and treat to a medical degree level) and if you are a patient with a complaint in the first instance - always go back to the
person treating you.
The HCPC is our governing body (and while it re-registers us every few years it’s often deregistering people for malpractice and other larger scale gross misconduct type behaviours. Abuse in positions of power..) not anything ‘clinical’ or in need of a treatment in a clinic. You could ring for advice on serious concerns- we all have a duty of care. This is another safeguard for the public. Their website is informative.
But
Please do go back to your podiatrist to let them fix any clinical problems.
Don’t feel awkward.
I have developed an
If-I-miss-the agreed treatment- in-the-first 5 days come back to me for free.
If someone has a deeper non related issue though be prepared it may require a more detailed follow up, an onwards referral to the GP for imaging or specialist further diagnosis.
Often our screening is not a final diagnosis which needs further hospital follow up.
And you will be charged for that time and their skill but also GP letters and reports.
Understandably. ( except the NHS).
It happens we may miss a small area or pass over an area too scantly. If you can say
Can you just take a look at that area please ? while you’re in the podiatry chair - even better.
But I wouldn’t want any of my patients sitting with an uncomfortable issue when it’s an easy fix for me.
So I say drop me a message and pop back in.
It’s happened once in 10 years.
I appreciate that you may feel you are asking more time and but that’s not on you, the patient.
Please communicate early so you get the professional advice sooner.
It’s bout letting them put it right as soon as possible.
They are professionals- they will want to put it right.
(For the NHS they will have their details on their initial appointment emails. You can expect formal complaints can go on but you are encouraged with the service to make contact in the first instance).
Private Podiatrists are 9-5 pm and not an emergency service, so should any signs of infection occur and you can’t access the team,
Or get anyone to see you becaus they have done away and or out of the country
it could be a walk in
GP
111
A&E
to cover you.
NHS you can see another practitioner obviously though they are stil 9-5.
I know as the patient you may feel awkward saying
I think you left a bit but it happens.
I’m not sure what the regulations are for ‘Foot Health Practitioners’ ( FHP’s) but I would say the same..
Contact them 1st ( they are different from podiatrists as they are only able to treat ‘ routine nail care’ ) they can (and do) learn on the job how to recognise and pass on to a HCPC Podiatrist
( we Podiatrist are encouraged to pick up from FHP’s at University and I have taken referrals from them) ..the aim is we can supervise and advise or just deal with patients out of the ‘ routine nail care’ domain.
Many FHP’s show an interest in the job and decide to go for a medical degree at a later stage so keep coming back- others are secure in their remit and do not want more medical patients so hand over cases that they feel is necessary.
We don’t supervise FHP’ s though, unless we employ them, and so it’s up to you when you employ someone to ask their terms and conditions and complaints policy.
if your complaint goes further and the practitioner was to realise they could have done or missed a step they won’t lose their job
Some complaints mean podiatrists will just hand it over to a legal professional body as it’s easy for things to get legal
And that’s ok too but it can be wasteful if once you complained the result was they did everything they could and it was down to you not returning to them for whatever reason
I their practice
They will likely use what we call a ‘reflective’ practice style and approach to see what they could have done differently.
Usually it’s always offer that ‘review’ appointment ..early
I hope this makes sense
Occasionally a podiatrist may refer a patient to someone else/ another podiatrist even.
Particularly if they feel time, health limitations or they stop doing home visits like me- I passed mine on to a local podiatrist I trained with who works with family and are handing home visits.
Some because their skills aren’t as strong in the biomechanic assessments
or like me do not provide toe nail removal surgery with phenol and local anesthetic ( despite being fully qualified to do so).
Financial and practical reasons. I am more biomechanics.
We may refer on.
We may refer you back to your GP.
This is good practice.
The skills we are trained in is being able to diagnose and offer a treatment plan.
We don’t always think we’re best placed to carry out all treatments either.
I have an interest in mayo fascia, tape and insoles I am Ehlers Danlos and so I am good with these type of treatment plans.
We may be encouraging you to go get scans, blood tests, a new or up to date diagnosis.
We can actually refuse to treat some one if they do not disclose medications, a diagnosis because that could put our medical registrations at risk
There IS a patient practitioner profession
code & wider duty of care
This IS a good environment to mention addiction and ask for advice.
Some podiatrists are not as knowledgeable as others but consider if they have diagnosed you and treated you in a suitable time scale whenyou booked:
Have you actually needed a double appointment but only booked one small half hour session ?
Have you left it six months when you could have been coming more regularly ? ( podiatrists often can do wonders in one initial 45 minute appointment but regular treatment works best and resolve issues whereas ‘ad hoc’ visits are just managing and can be problematic if the advice is never applied
Consider fungal nail
Typically stubborn
if your podiatrist turns you away it could be because they feel you do not follow the treatment plan
A patient may have been a part of creating that plan but if they’re not acting on any of our professional advice I would be thinking of discharging them
The honest truth is that I would feel they weren’t safe for my professional liability and health
Were they able to carry out ‘self care’ tasks that they may have initially been advised and agreed to
like applying emollient or foot cream, carrying out a strengthening or stretch movement,
Soaking feet in a bowl of Dead Sea salt water prior to an appointment about skin and nails ?
It may be they can’t reach their toes and have no one else near to help
This is then factored in a treatment plan.
But
in my experience, if someone comes to see me as a one off, like one single appointment they would do better with a small course of treatment
The results they will see will be benefitted from and I recommend this and they don’t follow this up it is more likely their engagement
We review at 3 weeks
and while we can do a brilliant ‘treatment plan’,
the treatment plan is supposed to looking at outcomes and making improvement
We can then measure outcomes
Which means did it get better or do we need to do something else ?
Each visit adds to that overall assessment
We even factor in ‘differential diagnosis’ or ‘ what else could this be’?
informed by clinical tests ( and our interventions based on those tests) we may ask you if it worked
Occasionally we see people not really implementing interventions as consistently as we would like
( for all sorts of reasons some of which we could adjust ) soem we don’t know
Fear of new things ?
Something we call a psychosocial factor could be fear of change or new ness
I just realised I could have done a video blog but I hope this gives people a good base for considering using a podiatrists complaints process.
What about asking your podiatrist or foot health practitioners if they have a website
Is it in their
Having said that mine is terribly old and a bit outdated so probably hadn’t got a good Complaints procedure
So I update myself on this page
Beacuse of my social work background I’m likely to mindful of many other conditions but may podiatrists use networks where they can learn from each other and of course we are required to update our First aid
I also keep an enhanced police cleared check for public peace of mind.
We are a protected title which means anyone saying they area podiatrist needs to be registered with the
HCPC.
Some podiatrsist register with the Royal college of Podiatry for more training nd professional development.
And so they can network.
I did for my first decade of being a podiatrist as it was useful to keep updating my professional developments even though I had been a professional in the specific re it of disability, we are always required to keep abreast of new developments, practice or chemicals,
We can sell and supply antibiotics and other medicines as we are POM (Prescription only ) examined at Pharmacy level ( we sat our exams with pharmacists ) and try to keep abreast of medicines and The National institute of clinical Execellence.
We know a lot of contra indications but you have to tell us the medical list on our first appointment and allergies and history.
I hope this has generated some good insights and helps you go forward in your plan for treatment
Podiatry is a fantastic career and we hope to encourage more people into it not less. We really do spot and save lives sometimes. Melanomas is a big one here by the coast!
Thanks again for all who make this job so rewarding,
Dawn
and my little team at Footcares !
