Employing a podiatry assistant

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hi everyone,

just wondered if any of you had any experience of employing podiatry assisstants/footcare assistants for basic nail care in private practice?

there are a few nail cutting services in the area where patients can get their nails cut from as little as £6-£9 so I was considering offering a similar service from my practice. i have just started looking into it and according to the society guidelines there are no formal qualifications needed but training is done by the podiatrist consisting of at least 500 hours in the clinic.

have any of you had any success with this, or has it not worked for you? any advice? look forward to hearing your opinions.

l

 

If it is permissible for a podiatrist to train their own podiatry/foot care assistant and employ them, what is the difference in the podiatrist just employing a FHP instead, since the FHP will already have their own indemnity insurance through their training body?

 

Thats a good point, I hadn't looked into the insurance issue yet, it was just an idea I was considering, I dont know how the podiatry assistants go about getting indemnity insurance, so yes it would make sense to employ a FHP, thanks.

 

Emma,
May I suggest before you do anything that you look up the legal implications for both delegation and referral of patients?

If you are delegating work to an assistant then you retain overall control of the patient, can supervise treatment and then are ultimately responsible, legally for the outcome. You would need to check if your SCP Insurance would cover you as I believe there are certain criteria that need to be met otherwise your insurance will be negated.

I do not know the Society Guideline to which you refer. I know, however, that SCP Members are not allowed to train anyone to practice Chiropody/Podiatry.

If you are referring work then you are relinquishing control of the patient to someone else. SCP members are advised not to refer to anyone who is regulated under Statute and whose levels of training are unknown. ie: FHPs.

If you want use an FHP then remember they are trained to function as an autonomous practitioner. I can't see that working with a Pod doing a purely nail-cutting service would be of any interest to them. Also, you would not be able to give them an Associate Contract as this can only be drawn up between practitioners of equal standing. (The SCP can supply you with a template for this.)
More importantly, unless you have them pinned down with an exclusivity contract -which may or may not be enforceable - there is nothing to stop them poaching your patients and setting up down the road from you in a years time. But you start imposing conditions on them, they become an employee and you're back into all the taradiddle of PAYE, sick pay. etc etc. Again, you must be careful what you items you supply for this person to work with as this may put them into the category of an "employee".

This can all be a legal minefield but the Director of Employment relations, Eddie Saville, at the SCP es@scpod.org will be able to advise you in more depth in all these areas.

I would suggest that you look at Hilary Walker's "Simply Toenails" package. Info is available on the SCP website. However, all patients that sign up to this plan must agree to a full foot assesment before joining the scheme. If they baulk at paying more than £6.00 then this may not be of interest to them.

Can I suggest that you stop trying to get into a price war that you can't win and promote all the other advantages that pods have ?
I'm sorry to sound blunt, but we have such a wide skill bank I think it is counter-productive to dumb-down our services to fit in with current market trends.

I cannot imagine, for the life of me, how anyone can provide a nail cutting service at £6 and maintain HPC and SCP standards with regard to cross-infection controls and decontamination.

I wish you well with your expansion plans, but would advise to tread with caution !

Cynical Cat.

 

"tread with caution" ...lovely! very apt...

If you are thinking of actually employing someone then what I am about to say will be of no consequence, however, if you are considering that the FHP will work on a self employed basis then it does indeed have serious implications for you, as doubtless they will be doing patients that you refer to them. Firstly, if you are delegating patients down to the FHP, there is the lack of clarity over whether you will be ultimately responsible for the work that they do...that is certainly the case in nursing, if a nurse delegates to a health care assistant, they still carry the burden of responsibility - I dont know how that sits with someone who's training and skills you are unsure of? Secondly, anyone who secures work for another person automatically is viewed as their employer, and that does affect PAYE and income tax etc...you need to look at employment law for this one?

 

All,
This might be useful,

http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/78720/003093.pdf

but it's worth bearing in mind that in the NHS, all workers are covered by the Vicarious Liability of the Employer. In the private sector this does not apply, hence the need to check out the legal position very carefully.

The SCP rules are here:-

http://www.members.feetforlife.org/download/6241/Delegation-supervision-feb-2009.pdf

This is why so many pods prefer to operate as sole traders !

CF

PS. Correction to Post 5# - it should read "NOT regulated under statute"

 

Thanks for that CF,

Not exactly "in a nutshell" but it does make the onus of responsibility clear.
However, although the NHS do indeed hold vicarious liability, it is for a very good reason that nurses are advised to subscribe to the RCN union, and that is that, should the NHS decide that the nurse did not act according to NHS Policy then they may need independent legal cover (from the RCN).

 

Footsie,

You are absolutely correct in what you say. When I was a Trade union Rep for an NHS Trust (for 15 years) I was always urging folks to join a Union.

The sad thing was for some, they didn't realise they needed a Union until it was too late, but that's another story.........

It's very rare for an NHS worker to get sued directly unless it is a Civil Action mounted by the claiment after a Criminal Action has failed. Usually in the case of negligence the Trust pays up and then asks the employee to resign.

There are no such "cushions" available in the Private Sector which is why I always advise checking out the legal position very carefully. Those of us that are SCP Members can get an hours free legal advice (on any topic) as part of our Membership fees.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, says I !

Legal Cat

 

I was wondering about the role of assistants in Australia as I know there has recently been an intake for the assistants course. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.