Chiropodist and podiatrist are protected titles by law. In order to call yourself a chiropodist or podiatrist, or say that you do chiropody or podiatry, you must be registered with the Health Professions Council (HPC). In order to register with the HPC new registrants must now have a degree in podiatry from one of the Schools of Podiatry below. The title podiatrist has replaced the title chiropodist, although both terms are interchangeable.
Many chiropodists and podiatrists who qualified some years ago will not have qualified with a degree but instead would have received a diploma, although many have now undertaken a top up degree. When the HPC register for chiropodists and podiatrists opened in 2003 it was also possible to be grandparented onto the register if you had previously been practising as a chiropodist for a specified number of years but this route onto the HPC is now closed. The old term "state registered chiropodist" is now a defunct term.
If you are not registered with the HPC and use the title chiropodist or podiatrist you may be subject to prosecution and a fine of up to £5,000
Schools of Podiatry
Glasgow Caledonian University
Matthew Boulton College
New College Durham
Queen Margaret University
University of Brighton
University of East London
University of Huddersfield
The University of Northampton
University of Plymouth
University of Salford
University of Southampton
University of Ulster
University of Wales Institute Cardiff
All the Schools of Podiatry offer full time degree courses leading to either a BSc Podiatry or BSc Podiatric Medicine. The Universities of East London, Salford and Huddersfield also offer the opportunity of doing a part time degree.
To treat feet without being a registered chiropodist or podiatrist the following options currently exist.
Podiatry Assistant or Foot Care Assistant
A Podiatry Assistant or Foot Care Assistant works as a clinical assistant to a podiatrist either in the NHS or in private practice. You are trained "on the job" which involves a minimum of 500 clinical hours, and includes practical training and theory and oral assessments.
Foot Health Professional, Foot Health Practitioner, FHP, Foot Health Specialist
These titles can be used by anyone regardless of training levels. Many private organisations offer training in Foot Health however at the end of the course you will not be able to register with the Health Professions Council, the only regulatory authority, because these courses are not approved by the HPC. You will be "registered" only by the particular private training organisation you undertook your course with.
Most registered practitioners consider these Foot Health training courses to be inadequate because they are too basic and too short on practical clinic time. You will be considered by many to be unqualified. You will not be able to use the terms chiropodist, podiatrist, chiropody or podiatry.
Who are the private Foot Health trainers:
The Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists
www.iocp.org.uk
SMAE Institute, Maidenhead, Berkshire (College of Foot Health Professionals)
www.smaeinstitute.co.uk
Stonebridge Foot Health School
www.foothealthschool.com
www.stonebridge.uk.com
College of Foot Health Practitioners (used to the West Midlands School of Chiropody), Blackheath, West Midlands
www.westmidlandsschool.com
www.thechiropodyschool.org.uk
www.collegefhp.com
Who are the private Foot Health membership bodies:
British Association of Foot Health Professionals
Alliance of Private Sector Practitioners
The Register of Foot Health Practitioners
The Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrists
Thanks for that most professional post will82. It just shows the standard of spelling, grammar and motivation behind some FHPs.
And BTW – no-one said FHPs “weren’t qualified”, the word was “unregulated”.
Hi Sue, just looking at your listings for FHP’s I see you have
SMAE, Stonebridge, College of Foot Health Practitioners, along with the following organisations for private Membership bodies
British Association of Foot Health Professionals
Alliance of Private Sector Practitioners
The Register of Foot Health Practitioners
No where do I see The Institute of Chiropodists and Podiatrist which is both, is there a reason for this, surely its wrong to promote some and not others.
The bottom part of my post refered to the FHP courses available, however now looking at it again it says Foot Health so I’ve added you now to both lists.
Hi Sue thanks for that, I’m just a student but I’m sure the IoCP will be thrilled that you’ve added their name. Its nice to see that this site is so fair minded not like some others.
Thanks for the response Maisie, way back when. I have seriously thought about Podiatry, I am glad to say I am taking a big step and have been accepted on a course.. However, I do not have a science background, but do have previous Degree from a separate subject. Where as most of the students will have an ACCESS course or straight out of school background.. What would you recommend i study to brush up to be on par with them in the next few months? How intense is the course?
I spoke to a 3rd year student who said she has never done any work at home, and managed to do all her assignments at the clinic, whilst managing to drum up the clinical hours, that sounds a good advantage.. is this possible?
Any idea what I should be expecting, I’m getting a little nervous AS time draws nearer
Hi Sid,
May I suggest you take a look at
http://www.podiatry-arena.com/
where you can ask questions and will be able to obtain information from students, prospective students and newly qualified.
With all due respect to this forum, I don’t think you will find the answers here.
Hi Sue I’m looking for some advice, I did a course for Chiropody in Glasgow 21 years ago it was a small course with a private college. The course lasted about one year I then took up Chiropody full time, now I have 20 years experience and a massive client base so business wise all is good. My qualifications L,V,CH,C (licence of Victoria chiropody clinic) is not recognised now.
My son is interested in joining my business but Im confused about the training out there. HPC were kind enough to let me know I couldnt use the Chiropody name even though I did my course before they existed. I want to keep my son right and protect my business so need to point him to good training outside the NHS. Can you recommend some course for him other than Degree. Thanks.
It’s a shame you never registered with the HPC as you could have been grandparented in. Why did you choose not to do so?
If your son wants to use the terms chiropodist or podiatrist the only option he has open to him is to do a Podiatry degree and then he can join your business as a registered podiatrist. I recommend he contacts some of the universities listed above to find out more. I’m afraid that’s the only sensible thing for him to do.