• protect and keep people safe, applying current legislation to promote their rights, choices and wishes, treating them with dignity and respect, explain treatment options and risks/ benefit/ prognosis including no treatment to obtain and document informed consent for podiatry care
• work collaboratively with patients and others
• communicate effectively and appropriately, listening carefully to determine all the factors affecting the patient’s foot health in the context of their medical and social history and ability to self-care
• establish person-centred podiatry agreed treatment plans, encouraging informed decision-making encourage and enable appropriate self-care 

• legislation, policies and procedures relating to safeguarding, ethics, equality, diversity and inclusion
• what is meant by informed consent and how to secure it across the age range and in line with cognitive ability
• ways to work effectively with families, carers and other teams
• the importance of communication in plain English using a range of verbal and non-verbal communication techniques appropriate to age, emotional or mental state or cognitive ability
• what is meant by compassionate person-centred care including ways to engage people in their own care
• podiatry treatment planning processes including the risks and benefits of treatment plans

Clinical Care

• select and use appropriate assessment and treatment techniques safely, effectively and ethically e.g. interpreting medical history; recognising potential consequences of treatment; carrying out mechanical debridement to remove painful, dead, damaged, or infected tissue of intact and ulcerated skin; taping and similar adjunctive therapies; carrying out surgical procedures for skin and nail conditions; managing nail disorders, or prescribing foot orthoses
• observe, assess, diagnose, monitor and treat a patient’s lower limb, reviewing, updating and adapting or ceasing treatment as required
• use a systematic approach to formulate and test a preferred diagnosis
• work with a range of conditions encouraging mobility and independence
• perform treatments, including minor surgery under local anaesthetic
• manage medicines including accessing, supplying and administering prescription-only medicines use basic life support skills to deal safely with clinical emergencies

• make and receive referrals, including being responsible for the interpretation of clinical findings in relation to the lower limb and the decision for onward referral or discharge
• create, store, retrieve and update records in accordance with legislation, protocols and guidelines
• provide verbal and written health education on public health, foot health, mobility and the lower limb, including preventative, palliative or curative information, in a group or one to one setting

• the structure and function of the human body including the biomechanics of the lower limb and the impact it has on the whole body
• the importance of mobility and how it affects life experience
• a range of clinical needs relevant to the lower limb such as acute or chronic neuropathies, long term conditions, or musculoskeletal disorders including dealing with people with a degenerative condition or whose diagnosis or prognosis is worsening
• a range of screening techniques such as diabetic risk stratification, vascular and neurological assessments or the taking of swabs or tissue samples
• ways to use your judgement when observing, assessing, diagnosing, monitoring and treating the patient
• theoretical basis of podiatry interventions and diagnosis including when to adapt or cease treatment
• clinical reasoning and the processes that underpin decision-making and problem solving
• possible effects of anaesthesia including dosage calculation
• when minor surgery may be required
• medicines management within the limits of your competence as outlined in legislation and the HCPC requirements
• current basic life support practices and how to apply them
• when and where to refer
• podiatry discharge procedures and protocols

• how to record, report and store information in line with legislation, policy and procedures including your role in relation to audit and data management
• ways to manage group dynamics or individual sessions including ways to ensure material is understood

• assess, record, mitigate and review risks around podiatry services or treatments
• move and position people and podiatry equipment safely
• keep the environment clean and safe from hazards
• order, store, sterilise and dispose of equipment and other stock used in podiatry services
• incident reporting and follow on protocols when a safety risk has been breached

• health and safety legislation, policies and procedures including how to assess risks that ensures safety and security and promotes recovery, mobility or independence
• a range of moving and handling techniques
• ways to ensure infection prevention and control
• ways to keep yourself, patients and colleagues safe including lone working, ways to reduce occupational stress and the importance of maintaining your own health and well-being
• processes for ordering and storing stock including cost-effectiveness, sterilisation and disposal protocols and the safe storage of prescription-only medicines
• when and how to escalate issues and incidents that will impact on your work environment

• work within the scope of practice for podiatrists, including being professionally accountable and adhering to clinical governance
• work as part of a multi-professional team, demonstrating leadership and management skills
• evaluate and measure your own practice and performance and that of those you work with, using clinical governance processes to improve podiatry practice and overall standards in healthcare
• demonstrate evidence-based practice

• the limits of your scope of practice as a podiatrist including the legislation, standards and codes of conduct that apply
• what is meant by clinical governance and accountability in relation to your role
• the importance of participating in appraisal, training and development
• a range of research methods used in podiatry including the principles and applications of scientific enquiry to podiatry and lower limb function
• how health and care services are structured and function including ways to work across boundaries
• a range of leadership and management techniques including ways to supervise and mentor others
• ways to evaluate your own performance and that of others, including giving and receiving feedback
• the role of outcome measures in evaluating the efficacy of treatments and interventions including ways of improving podiatry practice
• critical reflection and its academic basis including models of critical reflection and how to apply it to patient care