David Watterson, podiatrist with the Southern Health Board in Cork city, says his patients include many diabetics and sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis
My working day starts at about 8.45 a.m. The Grattan Street Health Centre is open from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. and I would see on average 15 patients a day, for about 20 minutes each.
There are eight of us working here, three of us on a full-time basis.
Many of my patients are diabetics or people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. I would see these patients for an assessment once a year and also on an emergency basis.
Diabetics have a lot of problems with peripheral nerves in their feet and hands, and often don't have feeling there. If they damage themselves in their feet and don't know about it, it can be very serious. Diabetics also find it more difficult to fight off infections.
People with rheumatoid arthritis can suffer from gross deformity in their feet and often have ulcerations because their feet have changed shape.
I also treat a lot of high-risk patients - people on drugs such as warfarin, which can cause people to bleed a lot. If you are on warfarin and cut yourself on the foot while trimming your toe nails, you can cause yourself a lot of trouble.
We also treat bunions, corns and fungal infections. There is very little you can do about bunions, except treat any corns on the bunion and advise about wide-fitting shoes. If they are causing disability, we can talk about surgery.
We see a lot of children with verrucas. The philosophy on treating verrucas changes almost every month. At the moment, the thinking is that a lot of treatments - burning off a verruca with liquid nitrogen or salicylic acid - are more painful than the verruca itself.
We advise people not to treat them unless they have to. It is the exact same as a cold sore; if you leave it alone, it will go away. Precautions for passing on the verruca can be taken.
Basically, we treat anyone who has a need and who has a medical card. Most people ignore their feet until they have a problem and then it is often too late.
We also offer gait analysis and make orthotic implants such as insoles for our patients. An orthotic implant can make a big difference for a patient who is experiencing knee, ankle, arch or back pain as well as shin splint, which is our number one complaint.
We also carry out nail surgery at the health centre, where we inject a local anaesthetic to remove in-grown, problematic or infected nails.
Simple treatments can give patients a lot of relief and happiness. Patients are usually happy to come into us. They don't get to see us that often and are very happy when they get an appointment.
High-risk patients have to wait three to four months to see us.
Some people feel that we don't offer enough services and so we have confrontations from time to time. Some people want to be seen twice a week to get their nails cut.
The downside of the job is the structure of the job - I find it difficult to get five minutes to myself.