Podiatry

(asked on 19th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the ability of the podiatry workforce to meet demand for services over the next (a) five and (b) 10 years.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 24th May 2021

It is the responsibility of individual National Health Service trusts to have staffing arrangements in place that deliver safe and effective care. This includes recruiting the staff needed to support these levels and meet local needs.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the NHS has the workforce it needs to deliver high quality care. As part of the new funding package for healthcare students, non-repayable, training grants of at least £5,000 per academic year are available to eligible new and continuing pre-registration podiatry students, studying at English universities. There is an additional specialist subject grant of £1,000 to eligible new students who choose to study in shortage professions, including podiatry.

There has been significant investment both via Health Education England, NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Office for Students over the last three years in a number of specific programmes of work involving the College of Podiatry, including television and social media campaigns to stimulate interest in podiatry careers both in school leavers and those seeking a second career.

The latest data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service shows there were 275 acceptances on podiatry courses in England in 2020, an increase of 53% compared to 2019.

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