Culture

Walkrite culture is defined by our academic and clinical backgrounds and our extensive experience in clinical practice.  How we treat patients and run our clinics is informed by our belief that our reputation is our most valuable asset.  We aim to expertly assess and diagnose the problems that our patients are experiencing and then, through our educational background and ongoing learning and development, provide patients with the best information and treatment options to improve their conditions quickly.

We developed this section to provide more information with regards to our backgrounds, qualifications and educational activities.

Qualifications

Walkrite clinicians are Podiatrists.  Qualifying as a Podiatrist requires completion of a 3-4 year BSc(Hons) Degree in Podiatry as a baseline qualification.  Once qualified, Podiatrists can work in a number of different specialities including Musculoskeletal, Sports, Diabetes, Rheumatology, Paediatrics, Forensic Podiatry and Podiatric Surgery and can progress to complete post-graduate training to PGCert, PGDip, MSc or PhD level as our education and training is based in clinical academia provided by University or post-graduate education centres.

Regulation and insurance

We are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) who regulate the main health and care professions (such as Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech & Language Therapy etc).  Regulation through the HCPC ensures that we have to comply with continued education and professional development, that our practice is evidence-based or considered to be best practice and, importantly, we can be suspended or removed from the register if found to be mal-practicing, which would prevent us from continuing to practice as a Podiatrist or Chiropodist as these are protected titles and can only be used by appropriately qualified and registered clinicians.  HCPC-registration is an important aspect of our practice and identity as clinicians and is an important protection for the public.

Experience

Nicola and John both qualified in 1999 and therefore have extensive experience within the field of the foot and ankle.  We have worked extensively in specialist areas, both in the NHS and private practice, including Orthopaedics, Diabetes, Podiatric Surgery, Musculoskeletal, Sports and Paediatrics.  We have worked, and continue to work, in specialist teams and treat both complex patients and elite athletes.  Within our practice through Walkrite, we mainly specialise in Musculoskeletal, Sports and Paediatrics but our wealth of diverse experience means that we have the ability to assess and diagnose complex and unusual problems and then either instigate treatment plans ourselves or ensure rapid and efficient referral where required.

 

 

Educational activities

Ongoing education and learning is at the core of what we do and is vitally important to us.  Our practice is informed by our continuous review of the evidence and awareness of best practice and we regularly give educational presentation sessions to clinical and patient groups.  Nicola and John have both lectured at national conferences including:

Primary Care & Public Health 2018 – Nicola Blower – ‘Innovations in the Management of Heel Pain’

Firefly Summit 2017: Nicola Blower – ‘The Anatomy of a Tip-toe’ and ‘Root Model – Panel Discussion’

Firefly Summit 2017:  John Chadwick – ‘TMTJt arthritis – a Combined Clinical Approach of Injection and Orthotic Therapy’

 

Published journal articles

The Pharmaceutical Journal, Dec 2018, Vol 301, ‘Managing Plantar Heel Pain in the Pharmacy’ – Nicola Blower

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Open, DOI: 10.1177/2054270417718712 ‘Bilateral Arthrodesis of the Distal Tibiofibular Joint for Deforming Osteochondromatas – a case study’ (WJ Ribbans, J Chadwick, R Natarajan)

 

Articles in the media

We are always delighted when we are able to liaise with journalists across a variety of media platforms to help a wider audience, as I hope we also help our patients.  When we have new articles coming out or more information to share, we will post it in our update posts and newsletters.  Some of our recent articles include:

 

Rutland Radio

Nicola has also recorded 6 educational topics relating to the foot and ankle for the ‘The Surgery’ slot for Rutland Radio, which can be found here.  These included:

‘What is a Podiatrist’  ‘Heel Pain’ 

‘Bunions’  ‘Flat Feet’

‘Achilles Tendon Problems’  ‘Arthritis’ 

‘Shin Splints’  ‘Morton’s Neuroma’  ‘Sprained Ankle’

 

Runner’s World Articles

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