{"id":8539,"date":"2022-07-26T16:50:49","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T15:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/?page_id=8539"},"modified":"2026-05-28T11:01:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T10:01:52","slug":"overview-of-podiatry-services","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/podiatry\/overview-of-podiatry-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Overview of Podiatry Services"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Service<\/strong><\/td>Description<\/strong><\/td>Locations<\/strong><\/td>Contact details<\/strong><\/td>How to refer<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Community Clinics<\/td>The podiatry community service provides triage, screening, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and foot health education to patients with a lower limb condition or a systemic condition that affects the lower limb. 

All patients with MSK conditions or nail surgery requests should be referred to the community service and will be escalated to the specialist clinics after assessment if appropriate. 

Patient consultations are now being delivered in a range of ways to help meet the needs of all patient groups including telephone, video and face to face.  <\/td>		East Lothian<\/strong>
East Lothian Community Hospital
Musselburgh Primary Care Centre

Midlothian<\/strong>
Bonnyrigg Health Centre
Dalkeith Health Centre
Penicuik Health Centre 


Edinburgh<\/strong>
Allermuir Health Centre
Mountcastle Health Centre
Pennywell Health Centre
Slateford Health Centre
South Queensferry Health Centre
Westerhailes Healthy Living Centre


West Lothian<\/strong>
Bathgate Primary Care Centre
Carmondean Health Centre
Howden Health Centre
Linlithgow Health Centre
Strathbrock Health Centre
Whitburn Health Centre<\/td>		0131 536 1627<\/td>SCI Gateway:AHP \u2013 PodiatryPodiatry Community Clinics LI Podiatry  <\/td><\/tr>
Diabetic Foot Clinics<\/td>Specialist clinics providing advanced care for active diabetic ulceration and Charcot Neuroarthropathy


Working as an integrated multi-disciplinary team with Diabetic and Vascular consultants, Orthotists and nursing teams. <\/td>		Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Western General Hospital

St John’s Hospital at Howden<\/td>		0131 242 1482 

0131 537 1297 

01506 523175<\/td>		SCI Gateway:<\/strong>
RIE<\/strong>
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France Diabetes Podiatry LI Diabetes Foot Ulcer Clinic
WGH<\/strong>
Western General Hospital Diabetes Podiatry LI Diabetes Foot Ulcer Clinic
SJH<\/strong>
St John’s Hospital Diabetes Podiatry LI Diabetes Foot Ulcer Clinic 
Access to the service (scot.nhs.uk)<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Domiciliary Service<\/td>The domiciliary service if for patients who require podiatry treatment who are housebound.
This service is not available as preference and is only available to patients who are unable to leave their home on any regular basis, without the assistance of Healthcare or Social Care personnel using an ambulance or patient transport vehicle.  If the patient is able to leave their home on a regular basis to visit the doctor, hairdressers, or shops, either alone or with the assistance of a friend or relative, we will expect them to visit their local clinic.
The domiciliary service also covers care homes, prisons and provides an in reach service for inpatients in acute and community hospitals<\/td>		The Domiciliary service has a number of hubs across the City of Edinburgh, East and Midlothian, all hubs are serviced by the same telephone number.

For West Lothian patients the service is based in SJH.<\/td>		0131 536 1627
option 2.





01506 523180<\/td>		This service is only available for housebound patients

SCI Gateway:
AHP \u2013 Podiatry
Podiatry Domiciliary Service
LI Podiatry Domiciliary 
Access to the service (scot.nhs.uk)<\/a>   

Please complete and attach a s47 form<\/a> if patient lacks capacity<\/td><\/tr>
MSK<\/td>The musculoskeletal (MSK) podiatry service receives referrals for assessment, diagnosis and treatment of the lower limb MSK complaints with a focus on the foot and ankle. Patients are initially assessed and treated by Podiatrists in the community service and escalated to the MSK specialist clinic as required.  Referrals are also de-escalated from the Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle service where appropriate. 

Typically, a patient examination will involve taking a history of the presenting complaint, a non-weight bearing and weight-bearing assessment, and gait assessment, as well as diagnostic investigations such as X-ray where appropriate. After this the Podiatrist will form an appropriate diagnosis and agreed management plan.

Treatment has a patient centred approach and offers a number of evidence based treatments which can include:
  • Advice on activity modification.<\/li>
  • Exercise programmes.<\/li>
  • Footwear advice.<\/li>
  • Foot orthoses\/insoles.<\/li>
  • Corticosteroid injections.<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
SMART centre,
AAH
Strathbrock
Slateford <\/td>		0131 536 1627<\/td>Refer via community outpatient clinics

SCI Gateway:
AHP \u2013 Podiatry
Podiatry Community Clinics
LI Podiatry <\/td><\/tr>
Nail surgery<\/td>The nail surgery service can provide a long term solution to chronic and painful nails that have not responded to other podiatric treatments, for example, recurring in-growing toenails.
Patients will be assessed by their local podiatrist before being appointed for nail surgery.
Patients under the age of 12yrs can be assessed for nail surgery by our department but whether they are suitable will be decided on an individual basis and they may require onward referral to RHCYP for the procedure to be carried out.<\/td>		Allermuir Health Centre

Blackburn Health Centre

Bonnyrigg Health Centre<\/td>		0131 536 1627<\/td>Refer via community outpatient clinics 

SCI Gateway:

AHP \u2013 Podiatry
Podiatry Community Clinics
LI Podiatry <\/td><\/tr>
Orthopaedic Foot and ankle service<\/td>Advanced Podiatry Practitioners work as part of a MDT within the Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle service.
They assess and treat complex foot and ankle problems
Triage\/Add Patients to surgical waiting lists for Consultant Podiatrist and Orthopaedic surgeons.
Interventions include:
  • Advice\/Guidance.<\/li>
  • Orthotic Intervention.<\/li>
  • Application of Splints\/Strapping<\/li>
  • Stretching\/Strengthening\/Mobilisation.<\/li>
  • Steroid Injection Joint\/Soft tissue.<\/li>
  • Aspiration (e.g. Ganglion).<\/li><\/ul>
    Link : <\/strong>foot and ankle service<\/a><\/td>
 <\/td> <\/td>Refer via foot and ankle Orthopaedics service 

SCI Gateway:

Lauriston Buildings Orthopaedic \u2013 Foot and Ankle LI Basic Sign Referral<\/td><\/tr>
Rheumatology Podiatry<\/td>An Advanced Podiatry Practitioner works as part of the multi-disciplinary Rheumatology team to manage foot & ankle pain, maintain tissue viability and improve foot function and patient mobility for patients attending the Rheumatology service.
Medical ultrasound and podiatric assessment is used to aid diagnosis and management of a variety of conditions including:
  • SynovitisTenosynovitisTophiBone erosionBursitisEffusion<\/li>Ossification
  • EnthesitisTendon tearsNeuromaPlantar fasciitisNodules<\/li><\/ul>
    Link :\u00a0<\/strong>Rheumatology and bone disease<\/a><\/td>
Western General Hospital<\/td> <\/td>Refer via Rheumatology outpatients at the Western General Hospital.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

M.A & L.S – 28-05-26<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Service Description Locations Contact details How to refer Community Clinics The podiatry community service provides triage, screening, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and foot health education to patients with a lower limb condition or a systemic condition that affects the lower limb.  All patients with MSK conditions or nail surgery requests should be referred to the community<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":4314,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"class_list":["post-8539","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-podiatry"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":" Podiatry<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Service Description Locations Contact details How to refer Community Clinics The podiatry community service provides triage, screening, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and foot health education to patients with a lower limb condition or a systemic condition that affects the lower limb.  All patients with MSK conditions or nail surgery requests should be referred to the community","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8539"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28084,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8539\/revisions\/28084"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}