Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve patient care within NHS podiatry services, in the context of trends in vacancy rates of NHS podiatrists.

NHS England has worked extensively to enhance and modernise the podiatry professions. Central to this has been the development of education and training for support workers in podiatry and the development of the the podiatry apprenticeship.

NHS England is also continuing to promote podiatry as a career option through a suite of careers resources. The recently launched NHS Employers guide to podiatry sets out the full range of opportunities and offers guidance from career promotion in schools, to effective staff recruitment, retention and return to practice.