Congratulations to Charles Haywood, Podiatry Diabetic Foot Screening Assistant and DESMOND Educator.  Charlie is about to begin the College of Podiatry competency based training programme. 

The programme involves internal practical and theory based training with mentorship from Band 5 and 6 Podiatrists and an external examination which will qualify Charlie as a Band 3 Podiatry Assistant to complement the existing team and fulfil his upskilling.

Layla Saville, Podiatry Team lead said “Charlie has been a great asset to the Podiatry Team so far.  He will complement the Podiatry Assistant team and the whole service.  Good luck Charlie”.

We asked Charlie, pictured with his colleague and podiatry assistant Sandra Bates, for a bit more background:

"I have had the pleasure working within the CHFT Community Division in Podiatry for two years now.

"Before my time in Podiatry I worked within the care sector working with patients in their homes, and quickly learned how important the Community Division is in the provision of quality care to patients and their families. It really opened my eyes to the amount of organisation and co-operation involved in order to deliver quality care, and I was especially surprised at how many aspects of that care podiatry was involved in.  

"I decided I would like to be part of that system, and applied to the Podiatry Service for the role of Diabetic Screening Assistant. An aspect of my role I have particularly enjoyed is delivering DESMOND educational sessions to people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, empowering them to take ownership of their condition through self-management.

"I look forward to continuing my journey with the extremely talented CHFT Podiatry Team during my Podiatry Assistant training, and hope to reach the same high standards the team already provide".