A Foot Health Practitioner (FHP) is someone who has undertaken a Diploma course in foot health. There are many different training courses out there, but if I were looking for a qualified foot health practitioner, I would be looking for someone who has successfully completed a Level 4 Diploma course. This means that they would have generally undergone a year’s theoretical training, along with a period of practical hands-on clinical experience.
There is no statutory regulation of training or professional standards of FHPs in the UK, although I feel that this could change at some point in the future, but currently, this is how it stands. There are however, professional bodies of recognition, i.e., the British Association of Foot Health Professionals (BAFHP), the Alliance of Private Sector Practitioners, and the College of Foot Health (CoFH). These organisations require their members to have completed a Level 4 Diploma and are insured to practice, and that they further their training and education by committing to Continued Professional Development (CPD), a system where FHPs can accrue points evidenced by attending a certain number of workshops, courses and/or conferences each year.
What do they do?
A qualified Foot Health Practitioner will be able to attend to the general basic needs of foot health. This will include attending to things such as, nail cutting and maintenance, dealing with calluses and corns, treating and offering advice on fungal conditions of the nail and foot, offering certain verruca treatments, as well as offering some general guidance and advice on footwear. These are some of the very common everyday kind of foot conditions that a FHP can be presented with and that they are trained to take care of.
The training that they receive also gives them a general background understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb and foot, as well the type of health conditions that are likely to present in this area. Although basic, it is important to have some understanding of the A&P of the foot as well as certain conditions. With some background understanding, they are well positioned to pick up on anything unusual and can then refer their client onto their G.P or preferably a Podiatrist, who will have the medical training and expertise to be able to diagnose and treat any ill-conditions.
So, as we see, the FHP plays an important role in the care and health maintenance of feet. They can deal with some of the very common conditions that crop up in the feet, and very importantly, they can identify possible issues of concern and refer these onto the appropriate medically trained person i.e. a Podiatrist or GP.
