Anna Power

A. I fancied a bit of a challenge and doing something completely different to the people around me. I was a volunteer for St. John ambulance, so I started looking around at other medical degrees and came across podiatry. Podiatry in the UK has such a broad scope, with a range of specialist areas. You can go into surgery, wound management, biomechanics, routine podiatry, and there's also an area with forensic podiatry.

Forensic podiatry is utilised in some court cases, where evidence includes a footprint or a shoe. We then try and work out whether the person has committed the crime by looking at their gait, reviewing footwear, wear patterns or shoes. It's fascinating.

A. I don't think it's anyone particular person, but you find different experiences amongst all the different podiatrists you end up meeting in your career. The ones who are really committed to podiatry, and know an awful lot about either their chosen speciality or podiatry in general, endlessly inspire me.

A. Angela Evans - I met her in 2019 and she specialises in pediatric podiatry and children. In the UK, there are other people who've developed parts of podiatry, such as Martin Fox who is based in the North West and focuses on vascular podiatry. He and his team pioneered work in the early diagnosis and best clinical management of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). Their work has raised awareness of this common but life-threatening disease.

A. When I worked in elderly care wards I found it hard to believe how many long, knarled nails I would see. I can’t imagine how long some of these people suffered, walking with curled under nails that must have been so uncomfortable. On the flip side, it was so uplifting to treat these patients, chopping off and filing down the nails to see the instant relief in their face. All of a sudden, a lack of pain in putting their shoes on. It’s also the most satisfying treatment to deliver – you’re able to give someone immediate help, rather than needing a course of five-week treatments, for example. In a hospital setting it helps to reduce the amount of time a patient spends in the hospital, as it enables rehab teams to get patients up and about more quickly.

A. The most unusual condition wasn't exactly podiatry related. The patient actually had a cannabinoid-induced psychosis, so he believed that there were hairs growing out of his feet. That was a challenge – to treat that person when there wasn't anything physically wrong. I had the sense that he felt he’d been fobbed off by other medical professionals, so I did my best to support him in his condition.

A. I think I probably have a bit more faith in my own ability – you doubt yourself a lot when you first start and you learn over time that actually you're on the right track. You're doing the right thing, your instincts were correct. And I think it's, it's hard when you first start because you don't have the practical experience to back up that what you're doing is correct. Just go with it.

A. I often think back to the service at Addenbrooke's hospital, which wasn't set up at the time. I worked to set up the processes, get to know the nurses on the wards, and seeing how they were booking patients in. I worked there two afternoons a week and it was always a busy time, I’d be walking around six or seven wards reminding people that my specialty was available to them – hospitals are busy places so feet weren’t always included in the first check when patients were admitted. This slowly changed but it will always be a ‘work in progress.

A. Joining some of the local Podiatry groups. The College of Podiatry has branches you can become involved in. I think it’s very important to keep in touch with people that you've become qualified alongside because that’s your initial support system. There will always be things that you're not sure about, so it’s important too to develop a network of more experienced Podiatrists and help reduce any isolation you might encounter.

Attending conferences and events are a great platform to learn about new ideas and developments that are taking place all the time.

A. I've sadly never treated anybody super famous.