Memorandum of Understanding with Royal College of Podiatry
The Memorandum of Understanding between the Royal College of Podiatry and the British Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society is a landmark document outlining the similarities and differences between the two professional groups.
So, what is the point of this document? BOFAS is of the view that the regulation of foot surgery should be the same regardless of the professional group and that clarity of professional title remains important to the public as it has the potential to influence their healthcare decisions.
The safe practice of surgery is far from a technical exercise. It is complex and is a summative process involving a surgeon’s training, the working environment, their local support as well as the patient themselves and their own unique array of health issues.
These factors define a practitioner’s scope of practice and is where, from the patient’s perspective, risk lies.
Patients and other stakeholders should then ask the following questions:
- Has the surgeon the depth and breadth of knowledge to diagnose and treat their problem safely?
- Do surgeons have the regulated training to perform a procedure?
- Do they perform the procedure frequently enough to be competent?
- Does their surgeon have the breadth of surgical experience to recognise and manage unanticipated challenges that can arise during any operation?
- Does their surgeon have the ability to recognise and account for medical conditions, thus anticipating and avoiding potential complications?
- Are they able to manage complications if they were to arise?
- Does their surgeon have the insight to recognise the limitations of their practice which may lie in their working environment and their support network?
These are difficult questions for any surgeon to answer but BOFAS believes that a combination of the statutory GMC revalidation process and subsequently working in a larger team of other doctors is the best model for assuring foot and ankle surgeons maintain safe surgical practice
BOFAS had always intended to take these concerns - regulation, title and scope of practice – to the heart of the regulatory framework and have been seeking to partner with UK podiatry on this for some time. The MoU is the outcome now of over 12 years of intermittent discussions.
As things stand, the regulation of non-medically qualified foot & ankle surgery in the UK is paradoxically less stringently regulated than that performed by medically qualified surgeons.
It would be disappointing if UK Podiatry wishes to continue to pursue a course of lesser and incomplete statutory regulation from the HCPC, to continue to use a title which has been shown to be misleading to patients and not address the challenges posed with regulating scope of practice.
Therefore, with the support of other stakeholders, BOFAS will pursue plans to take our concerns to those within the regulatory framework as we strongly feel these are relevant and current issues that remain in the best interests of patients.