38 THE PRACTICE CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Rebranding to survive When his podiatric surgery role was absorbed into a new department, Damian Holdcroft was faced with a big decision: how to develop his career now? Eminent podiatric surgeon David R Tollafield spoke to him to find out.
employ another podiatric surgeon,’ Damian says. ‘A meeting was set up with the clinical director, foot surgeon and clinical manager of T&O. I outlined how I could be of benefit to the T&O department and there was a general concensus things worked well.’
Ready, willing and able ‘I then discussed working regularly in fracture clinic, where the postoperative dressings clinic for all foot and ankle surgery was held. I told Mr Goswami I could be there and pretty well manage all of the post-op patients once I became an independent prescriber [IP]. I knew this would be the game-changer.’
Path finder DAVID R TOLLAFIELD worked for more than 40 years in the West Midlands as a consultant podiatric surgeon. He now writes under the brand ConsultingFootPain for Busypencilcase Reflective Communications
At the time, there was no blueprint set out for an ESP used to working in podiatric surgery. ‘I had to make my own path as a podiatrist who had spent years working in surgery, theatres, giving injections, cannulating, going on advanced life support and immediate life support courses, as well as running a nail surgery list within the hospital,’ Damian says.
Image: iStock
F
rom 2011 to 2014, the community department of podiatric surgery at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust was slowly absorbed by the department of trauma and orthopaedics (T&O) until it ceased to exist. For one member of staff – extended scope podiatrist (ESP) Damian Holdcroft – these developments led him to take an unusual step. Faced with the loss of podiatric surgery, he decided to rebrand himself within the T&O surgery team. There was no guarantee it would even be accepted. ‘At the time, I thought I should do my utmost to preserve podiatric surgery. I was told by the trust they were unlikely to expand in terms of podiatric surgery and
Damian set out his stall and approached the orthopaedic foot and ankle lead, determined to sell himself. ‘I started off by undertaking some dual clinics with the consultant orthopaedic surgeon and lead in foot and ankle surgery, Mr Goswami. We compared how we would approach different problems. This came about in a friendly and encouraging way.’ Initially, Damian attended theatre with Mr Goswami observing. ‘I informed him that I could perform ankle anaesthetic blocks for the benefit of the patients undergoing surgery,’ he says. ‘Soon I was assisting in theatre and further down the line, suturing and so on. This lead to me taking a supportive role with trauma surgery during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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