Podiatry

The SCGH Podiatry service is a tertiary, multidisciplinary foot clinic, which provides care to patients with complex foot conditions such as ulceration, PVD, infection, amputation, severe foot deformity and neuropathic joint disease.  The clinic receives referrals from all specialty areas of the hospital, namely Endocrinology, Vascular Surgery, Renal Medicine, Orthopaedic Surgery and Immunology.  Patients who attend the SCGH service require a complex level of care, which is not available or appropriate for management in the primary or secondary health care setting.  The Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Podiatry department seeks to improve the quality of life of hospital clients with debilitating foot disorders.  We undertake to assist our patients in improving their foot health so that they may maintain a high degree of independence.

Our limited resources require us to direct our services primarily towards management of those patients classified as ‘high risk’ (i.e. any patient with a significantly compromised peripheral vascular and/or neurological status whom, if subject to injury, would be likely to develop a complication such as infection, ulceration, gangrene or limb loss) and secondarily into treatment programs where patients are managed through a process of assessment, treatment and/or education, and then referred to external services.

All patients who require routine Podiatry care will be discharged after education regarding their overall foot health has been provided and referred to external Podiatry services at that time.

Specialist Interests

• Diabetes and Pedal Complications
• Foot Ulcer Management
• Specialist Footwear and Orthoses

Outpatient Referrals

• Referrals are only accepted from hospital based medical practitioners, nurses and Allied Health
  professionals. These require an internal consultation request form, which, must be completed with details of the patient’s medical condition and will be prioritised based on the information provided.
• Community based referrals can only be accepted for community aids and equipment program (CAEP) eligible patients.
• Once a patient is discharged from the service, further review can only occur if the patient is attending an outpatient medical clinic. If the patient has not been seen in the podiatry department for more than 12 months, a new referral from the relevant outpatient medical clinic is required before the patient can be seen.

Clinic Sessions

All clinics are held in G Block Monday to Friday 7:30am – 3:30pm.

Other Information

General Podiatry Clinics are restricted to high-risk patients, wound care, footwear and orthoses.