Course structure
You will study the core areas necessary for professional practice: prescription-only medicines, research skills, podiatric conditions, health psychology, complex conditions and advanced care, leadership, education and innovation, and clinical practice.
This intensive programme runs over 45 weeks per year for two years. Your time on the course will be balanced between campus-based study and clinical practice.
The course begins in September. Formal lectures are an integral part of the curriculum and you will also learn through seminars, student presentations and interactive workshops, some of which will be shared with students on the undergraduate programme. You will be assessed through essays, exams, practical reports, presentations and your professional development portfolio.
As a podiatry student you will also share some teaching with students on physiotherapy, occupational therapy and pharmacy courses, allowing you to exchange knowledge and expertise with students from other disciplines.
Your practical placements can be selected from local NHS Trusts and private podiatry practices, allowing you access to specialist podiatry services and international placement opportunities depending on where your wish to develop your interests. Placements may take place during some scheduled school holidays.
As a student on this course you’ll also get to participate in Schwartz Rounds – hour-long sessions where students come together to listen to stories and share reflections in a supportive and confidential environment. The sessions offer the opportunity to reflect on the emotional aspects of clinical practice and are designed to support students and recent graduates working in complex settings.
Study advice
There are lots of resources to support you with postgraduate level study. Our build your study and digital skills page contains advice and tips for developing your key skills, alongside guidance on how to make the most out of your learning experience.
For further support and resources make sure to visit the library support pages and our LinkedIn Learning page.
Placements
You will undertake a minimum of 1,000 hours of placements during your course. You’ll have clinical placements in each year of your degree which increase in complexity of patient caseload.
Placements give you essential experience of working in the NHS and other diverse settings such as private practices, podiatry specialisms, research, education, leadership and international.
Placements also provide opportunities for you to develop your professionalism, knowledge, and skills under the guidance of a podiatrist, or other qualified practitioners for diverse placements.
Your skill development might be related to many areas of practice including routine podiatric skills, wound management, musculoskeletal management, orthoses, local anaesthetics injection, nail surgery, and other non-clinical skills such as multidisciplinary work, communication, use of technology, audit, and project management.
Placement locations
Placements take place mainly across the South East of England in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, and London.
It may be necessary for you to travel up to 90 minutes each way to placements or to stay away from home. Placements may take place during some scheduled school holidays.
You will also have an option to choose placements that are further afield in other parts of the UK, and overseas in countries such as Barbados, Canada, Nepal, Ghana and Sri Lanka. There are also some options for hybrid and remote placement.
How placements are allocated
For traditional placements in podiatry settings we select your placements from information you provide to us about your commitments outside of university, your previous experiences and your interests.
For diverse placements, such as non-podiatry settings or those of the UK, you will have an opportunity to submit your preferences for consideration alongside the information you supply to us.
If you have commitments outside of university, such as caring responsibilities, we will try our best to provide you with a placement close to home, but this cannot be guaranteed. We ask you to make contingency plans as you may be required to travel up to 90 minutes to your placements.
Support when on placement
We provide preparation sessions prior to placements.
A practice educator will support you on placement and our placement team will also be available for you to contact.
A university tutor will visit or call you and your practice educator halfway through the placement to discuss your progress.
Facilities
As a Brighton student podiatrist you will use specialist facilities including:
- a podiatry orthotics manufacturing facility where you will produce high-quality orthotics and insoles for patients as part of the practical element of your course
- a podiatry simulation suite equipped so you can learn and practice practical skills before you work with real patients and clients
- a virtual anatomy lab that houses our 3D anatomy visualisation table.
You’ll be able to see our facilities when you visit us. You can also get a feel for them by taking a virtual tour, watching the short video and checking out our Falmer campus information.
Meet the team
Rachel Forss, Course leader
Rachel is a senior lecturer and has worked at the university since 2013. She qualified as a podiatrist in 1995 from the University of Brighton and completed her MSc here in 2003. She is a committee member of the local branch of Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists.
Rachel has held leadership roles in the NHS, specialising for 13 years as the Lead Podiatrist in Wound Care, where she helped to improve documentation standards, implemented the Texas wound classification system into clinical practice and contributed to referral pathways to improve patient care. Rachel has a large amount of experience in treating diabetic foot ulceration including VAC therapy, ulcers related to various connective tissue disorders and hard to heal post-operative wounds.
Rachel has various research interests and these focus mainly on wound care, microbiology, microgravity research and diabetic wounds. She has just completed the GELL-P project (gravitational effects on lower limb perfusion), a research project sponsored by the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency investigating changes in blood flow to the lower limb during a parabolic flight.
