Our team assess and surgically treat podiatry conditions for people throughout the community.
Our team include podiatric surgeons, specialist podiatrists, theatre nurses and support staff who will care for you if you need surgery for your foot problems.
We want to help to improve your quality of life. We provide a wide range of surgical treatment for a number of conditions including:
- Hallux valgus (deformity of the big toe)
- Hallux rigidus / limitus (arthritis of the main joint in the big toe / limited movement of the big toe joint)
- Tailors bunions (a bump at the bottom of your little toe)
- Hammer, clawed and other toe deformities
- Morton’s neuroma (a condition that affects the nerves which run between the long bones in the foot
- Ganglions (fluid filled lumps near your joints)
- Soft tissue lesions (a lump or bump on your foot)
- Subungual exostosis (a non-cancerous bone growth)
- Swollen nerves in the foot
Procedure
You will have your surgery under local anaesthetic at One Life Hartlepool. This will make sure your surgery is pain free. You will be able to go home on the same day.
We will talk to you about how you can help yourself through a rehabilitation programme, which will involve stretching and strengthening exercises and by helping you to choose the correct footwear.
Aftercare
After your treatment you will be asked to come to your follow up appointments in one of our outpatient clinics at either One Life Hartlepool or Lawson Street Health Centre in Stockton.
You will be referred to us by you GP or practice nurse.
Making a referral
Health professionals (GPs and practice nurses) should make their referral through SystmOne referral dashboard or Choose and Book or by emailing [email protected]
Online self-referral
Important
Please seek urgent medical assistance if you have noticed any changes to your bowel/bladder, or numbness in between your legs/intimate area, if you have a temperature, a hot swollen joint, suspected infection or feel generally unwell.
Important information
- The services can only accept referrals from people living in the Hartlepool and Stockton council boundary areas, it is likely you will be registered with a Hartlepool or Stockton GP. If you live outside of this area, please contact your GP Practice for further information, as a referral to us would be rejected.
- The information you send us on this self-referral form will be triaged by a clinical practitioner and your referral will then be directed to the service that can most appropriately help you at your first appointment, which may include but is not limited to Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy, Advanced Musculoskeletal Assessment, Podiatry and Podiatric Surgery, Community Pain Management, Orthopaedics, Rheumatology
- If you feel you would benefit from a one off Physiotherapy assessment and discussion, please contact your GP Practice, as you may benefit from seeing a First Contact Physiotherapy Practitioner, which they can arrange.
- If you feel you need a more detailed assessment which may include further management, please continue to complete the self-referral form.
Digital consent
Our podiatric surgery department is implementing a new digital consent platform. This will improve our consent process, ensure we meet the national standards required for obtaining a patient’s consent and supports patient decision-making about their treatment. This will be done using an application by Concentric Health.
Using digital consent is expected to have the following benefits:
- A better patient experience and a greater understanding of decisions being made for your care
- More time to consider options and understand information before consenting
- The ability to sign consent forms remotely – this means that you can give your consent even when there is not a face-to-face appointment available
- A more robust consenting process with fewer errors
- Reducing the use of paper and improving carbon footprint
Frequently asked questions about digital consent
- Concentric Health Ltd. is a UK based company with headquarters in Cardiff, Wales.
- Registration number: 10733991.
- Address: Tramshed Tech, Pendyris Street, Cardiff, CF11 6BH
- Find out more about Concentric.
- Data is entered into Concentric by one of the podiatric surgery team to share information with patients about their treatment or procedures.
- Each consent form is adapted, meaning that your form is unique to you and your needs.
- Once ready, this will be shared with you via email or text message to review and sign later.
- Please review the information in your consent form. If you’re happy, please document your consent to the proposed treatment.
- If you have any questions or would like more information before consenting, please ask your healthcare professional – call the podiatric surgery department via specialist services admin on 01429 522471 and select option 1.
- You will be contacted by your clinician via Concentric by either:
- Email from [email protected]
- Text to your mobile phone from a contact name ‘Concentric’
- You will only receive messages from Concentric to share your consent form.
- Concentric uses Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for all hosting and data processing. Data will be stored within a data centre in the UK. GCP is compliant with all healthcare information governance requirements.
- Once the consent episode is completed, a PDF version of your consent is transferred into the Trust’s electronic patient record system as part of your healthcare record.
- All data is protected following industry best practice with regard to access controls and encryption.
- The Trust manages clinicians’ access, with password strength rules enforced. Patients are sent an email or text message with a unique link and enter their date of birth in order to verify their identity.
- All data is stored using leading encryption methods and is transferred securely.
- Concentric uses the following:
- ‘Personal data’ – data that can be used to directly identify someone, for example your name or date of birth
- ‘Special category data’ – sensitive data that usually requires more protection, for example details of your treatment
- The following personal data is processed: title, given name, family name, date of birth, gender, patient identification number (for example, your NHS number), mobile phone number and email address. This data is required for clinical safety purposes (with the exception of email address), as it needs to be displayed on-screen during all clinical interactions. It is best practice to share consent information with patients, and therefore an email address and mobile phone number is stored to allow communication throughout the consent process.
- The following special category data (data relating to health), is also processed: name of treatment, indication and purpose of treatment, alternatives and risks discussed, and name and job title of clinicians who have been involved in providing care. This information is required as it is documented on the consent form.
- Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), organisations can only process personal data if there is a lawful basis for doing so. Where Concentric is used, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust is the data controller, and Concentric Health is the data processor for the Trust.
- The legal basis for processing is that of ‘direct care’. Healthcare organisations have a requirement to receive and record procedural consent as part of providing care. The contract between the healthcare organisation and Concentric Health to deliver a digital consent platform provides Concentric Health’s ‘direct care’ legal basis for processing.
- More information about GDPR and data types.
- Your data will only ever be used by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust to manage the consent process as part of your treatment.
- It will not be used for any other purposes, such as research, unless we contact you and specifically ask for permission to do so.
