Follow every foot assessment, wound dressing, orthotic and review visit on one patient record.

Podiatry is care by repeat visits. Nail and skin treatments recur. A foot check for a patient at risk comes round every year. A wound may need a dressing twice a week until it closes, and each visit adds a small note to a long story.

Many clinics hold that story on paper or in a general diary that cannot show a wound’s progress. Orthotic orders sit with the lab by phone or email. A patient who stops attending is easy to miss, and a patient with an open wound who stops attending is a clinical concern that nobody has been asked to watch.

The front desk books short and long appointments against each podiatrist and treatment room, and checks that referral letters or cover details are on file. The podiatrist records history, footwear, circulation and sensation checks, skin and nail findings, and the plan for the next visit.

Wound patients are measured and photographed at intervals. The dressing used is noted. Biomechanical patients are assessed on gait and posture, cast or scanned for orthotics, and fitted when the devices return from the lab.

The clinic owner watches the diary, the sterilisation and consumables stock, the referrals coming in from doctors and the visiting clinicians who share the rooms and split the takings. Some work is done at care homes or in patients’ homes, away from the clinic. Billing follows each visit. Cover or referral paperwork is sent where the patient has it.