Podiatrists are allied healthcare professionals who assess and treat the lower limb and foot. On our Podiatry BSc(Hons) course you’ll have the opportunity to build the knowledge and hands-on skills you need whilst learning in specialist clinical facilities. We aim to give you the skills to improve the mobility and quality of life of your patients.

• You’ll have the opportunity to gain vital experience using our fully equipped on-site Podiatry Clinic, surgical theatre suite, biomechanics gait analysis equipment and orthotics laboratory.
• Clinical placements will be undertaken each year, where you can put what you’ve learnt to the test in the real world.
• The course helps to prepare you for working as part of a multidisciplinary team, as you’ll take part in interprofessional learning alongside physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacy students.
• You’ll have the opportunity to hear the experiences and viewpoints from service users and carers, who are part of the Public Partnership Group.
• You’ll have the opportunity to qualify with a certificate in local anaesthesia and prescription only medicines (POMs) annotation.

As a qualified podiatrist, you could work in a number of specialist areas with people of all ages including musculoskeletal podiatry, sports injuries, biomechanics and gait assessment, orthotics and nail surgery. Your work could include the management of foot health, routine care, specialist wound care and minor operative procedures. You could also contribute to the wellbeing of patients with diabetes, rheumatism, vascular or neurological disorders. Many podiatrists undertake further training to become a Podiatric Surgeon, Forensic Podiatrist or Advanced Podiatrist. Whilst others set up their own consultancies, so if you’re looking for a career in healthcare working independently and developing your entrepreneurial skills, then podiatry could be a good choice for you.

Placements

Placements are a compulsory element of the course and take place in a range of different NHS settings. You'll undertake 435 hours on placement throughout the duration of the course. The placements will provide you with:

• Orientation to the NHS and introduction to podiatry in the NHS.
• Supervised work providing treatment of patients requiring footcare assistant level care.
• A wider range of clinical practice experience to include an overview of the roles of other healthcare practitioners.
• Supervised management of patients requiring complex interventions in a range of treatment locations, including those patients deemed to be at risk or those whose environment create additional risk.

There may also be opportunities for final year students to access placements in other parts of the world where we have contacts.

Please note that you may be required to travel for/during your placements.

Your Career

As a registered practitioner, you can apply to work within the NHS, private practice and education.

Our graduates have gone on to work as podiatrists in the NHS hospitals, community health trusts and the private sector.**

After further training you could specialise in musculoskeletal care, orthotics, diabetes and high risk patients, as well as podiatric surgery.