Podiatry
Podiatry Access Hub
St Edmunds Community Care Centre
Victoria Park Road
Torquay TQ1 3QH
Appointments Office: 01803 217712 (Monday to Friday, 8:45am to 3:45pm)
Email: Podiatry Access Hub
Services
Podiatry is the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of the human foot. In Torbay and South Devon the following podiatry services are available:
- Foot health education for patients and carers
- Courses of treatment for painful foot problems
- Episodes of care and review of people with at-risk feet
- Treatment of developmental foot abnormalities
- Toe nail surgery
- Wound care
Access to treatment depends on your specific foot and health problems. We are unable to provide treatment for nail cutting, footwear related corns and callus, and non-painful foot problems unless your feet are assessed at high risk or ulcerated. We limit access to ensure that people who have the highest risk, receive the treatment we feel you need from the service.
The type of conditions that could put your feet at risk are: diabetic neuropathy, peripheral arterial disease, a history of ulceration or infection and rheumatoid arthritis (please note this is different to the more common osteoarthritis).
How to get treatment
People aged 18 – 60 require a referral from their doctor or other medical professional, unless their feet are deemed to be at risk from one of the health conditions described above. All other age groups can self-refer by completing an application form and sending it us. Contact details and where to send the completed self-referral can be found on the application form.
Your application will be triaged and an assessment appointment made. Some of our appointments are face to face where your feet will be examined, medical history taken and footwear assessed so that your individual needs can be identified and a joint treatment plan agreed. Please bring an up to date list of medication with you. Some of our appointments are now conducted virtually either over the phone or via the Attend Anywhere platform. If you need help completing the form please contact the Podiatry Appointments Office.
Where you can get treatment
We run podiatry clinics in a number of locations; some have clinics Monday to Friday and others on specific days of the week. Patients will be offered an appointment in the clinic which is nearest to you, but you may transfer to an alternative location if you wish. Transfer is on a permanent basis (unless you require emergency treatment).
Domiciliary care
Domiciliary Podiatry Care is provided to patients who are housebound and have high risk feet. Patients who leave their home for any medical or social reason will not be considered eligible except in special circumstances. To receive Podiatry treatment in your home, you will need your GP or other health care professional to make a referral confirming that you never leave your home.
How to book future appointments
Your clinician will advise you about this. You can book an appointment by telephoning the appointments office. When you telephone for an appointment, please make sure you have your appointment card with you, as this has information which the operator will request when booking your appointment.
Diabetic foot problem
If you have a new Diabetic foot problem (i.e. a break in your skin, an ulcer, a hot or swollen foot, a painful foot, numbness) please request an urgent review by your Podiatrist by contacting 01803 217712.
If out of hours contact your GP or practice nurse. Community Podiatrists are specialists in feet and are trained to care for Diabetic foot problems, including complex ulcerations. However, if either your GP/practice nurse or the community Podiatrists feels your Diabetic foot problem needs further investigation they will refer you to the Diabetic foot team at Torbay Hospital.
If you are already under the care of the Diabetes foot team at Torbay Hospital and you believe your Diabetic foot problem is deteriorating – please contact 01803 217712 between 8:45am and 3:45pm.
Out of hours / emergency access
If you have an urgent foot emergency out of working hours of your GP, or if you are on holiday in the area, we would advise you to attend the Emergency Department. A deteriorating diabetic foot problem is a medical emergency and should be responded to quickly.
Below are some examples of what you may need to attend the Emergency Department for, but if you are concerned about any problem with your foot and feel that it cannot wait to be seen in working hours you should attend the Emergency Department for an assessment.
- Foot ulcer/wound – a new foot ulcer with signs of infection (hot, swollen, red, oozing, smelling, feeling unwell) or a deterioration of an existing foot ulcer (increasing in size, oozing more heavily, smelling)
- Deteriorating infection – redness and heat spreading up the foot, feeling unwell/flu-like
- Gangrene
- Hot, red, swollen foot with no known explanation
Support videos
To support our service users, we have prepared some videos that will help people who have diabetes to care for their feet, which is an important element in the daily management of diabetes. View our videos.
CONNECTPlus app
Please also refer to the CONNECTPlus diabetic foot app which will also give you details of what to do in an emergency.
Location of Podiatry Clinics
The service is provided from these locations across South Devon.
- Ashburton Health and Wellbeing Centre
- Brixham Hospital
- Dartmouth Clinic
- Dawlish Hospital
- Kingskerswell Health Centre
- Newton Abbot Hospital
- Paignton Health and Wellbeing Centre
- Teignmouth Hospital
- Torbay Hospital
- Torquay, Castle Circus Health Centre
- Totnes Hospital
Information leaflets
We have a number of information leaflets available to download the under podiatry.