Expert Footwear Assessments and the NHS
The NHS offers an outstanding healthcare service in almost every respect. But for many years it has struggled to deliver the necessary standard of fit and quality in orthopaedic footwear, to the extent that up to 70% of patients with NHS orthopaedic shoes never actually wear them. For those patients the result can be a worsening of their foot condition and a decline in mobility.
The NHS has a duty to make high quality orthopaedic shoes for any patient with a clinical need, but upholding your legal rights in this area can be challenging. So James Taylor & Son has introduced an affordable, independent Expert Footwear Assessment service that will professionally evaluate the fit and quality of your NHS shoes and report any issues that require remedy.
If our Assessment confirms that your NHS footwear is defective you can take our written report to your GP. He/she can use it on your behalf to demand replacement footwear from the NHS or, if you have lost confidence in the NHS service, to support an Individual Funding Request (IFR) for the provision of private bespoke footwear funded by the NHS.
Your Rights as an NHS Patient
The NHS Patients’ Charter sets out your legal rights as a patient and these include:
- The right to treatment (including bespoke orthopaedic footwear) based on your clinical needs
- The right to have complaints addressed promptly and effectively, including the replacement/adjustment of defective orthoapedic footwear
If you have a clinical need for bespoke orthopaedic footwear (say, as a result of an accident or a medical condition like diabetes or arthritis) the NHS, by law, has to provide you with shoes or boots that meet those needs. If the footwear provided by the NHS does not meet the correct standard of fit or quality you have a right to demand a prompt replacement that does.
If the normal NHS provider cannot deliver to the correct standard (or is taking too long to do so) then you have a right to request that the NHS pay for the private provision of bespoke footwear.
Our Expert Footwear Assessment
The NHS and its contractors can make it difficult to for patients to identify the faults in footwear provision, making it challenging to defend your individual rights in this area. Our Expert Footwear Assessment addresses this problem by providing patients with an independent, expert opinion. It includes:
- Confirmation of your clinical need for bespoke orthopaedic shoes
- An assessment of the quality of the NHS orthopaedic footwear supplied, including accuracy of the fit and the quality of construction
- The provision of a written report giving a professional assessment of the suitability of the footwear provided as a medical device.
Assessments will typically take place in our London shop or can be arranged in one of our National Fitting Centres or through a Home Visit.
If our report identifies deficiencies in your NHS shoes you can take it to your GP or other health care provider and use it to either:
- Require the NHS to make you a new pair of shoes immediately, OR
- Get your GP to submit an Independent Funding Request (IFR) on your behalf so that the NHS will fund the purchase the correct quality footwear from a private shoemaker.
In some cases your GP may also be able to arrange a Personal Health Budget that can be used for your bespoke orthopaedic footwear needs.
Foot health is a critical part of personal mobility, general health and mental well-being. Where your foot condition leads to correctly fitting footwear being prescribed by a medical professional you have the absolute right to NHS provision of the correct footwear to meet your clinical needs. If the NHS cannot deliver then you have the right to have NHS funded private provision of bespoke orthopaedic footwear. Our Expert Footwear Assessment can ensure that you are best able to defend your rights where your orthopaedic footwear provision is inadequate.
You can purchase a Consultation / Assessment here. For further information call us on 027 935 4149 or email us at post@tayormadeshoes.co.uk.