We have set a clear target for systems to work to reduce long waits in NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework. By 2028/29 at least 80% of community health service activity, including podiatry, should take place within 18 weeks. In addition, in 2025 we published Standardising Community Health Services, which provides an overview of the core community health services, with further detail published in February 2026.

The NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for commissioning podiatry services across Birmingham and Solihull. Services are provided by the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

The Birmingham and Solihull ICB is working closely with both providers to address these challenges and reduce waiting times through a coordinated programme of improvements. Key actions across the system include:

- improving access and pathways, by reviewing and refining referral pathways to ensure patients are directed to the most appropriate service first time, reducing unnecessary demand and delays;

- service redesign, by developing more sustainable models of care that better reflect current demand and levels of clinical complexity, including opportunities to deliver care in alternative settings;

- workforce development and productivity, by expanding workforce capacity through apprenticeships and upskilling, optimising skill mix, and improving productivity through better use of support roles and streamlined clinic processes; and

- operational improvements, by reducing non-attendance rates, improving clinic utilisation, and strengthening performance monitoring to support timely intervention where pressures emerge.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their local populations, including podiatry and related surgical interventions where clinically appropriate. NHS England has issued guidance to ICBs to ensure equitable access to community and specialist services.

We recognise the importance of community health services (CHS) to the health and care system. The Medium-Term Planning Framework – delivering change together 2026/27 to 2028/29, published October 2025, sets clear targets for reducing waiting times for CHS.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning the majority of health and care services, including podiatry services, in England. ICBs arrange healthcare services to meet the needs of their local population, within available resources, and reduce inequalities in access to, and outcomes from, healthcare services.

The Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB recognises podiatry services as a vulnerable and vital service where challenges, including recruitment and retention, are reflected nationally. In response to this, it has mobilised a centralised system-wide approach looking at the range of services it provides across its integrated care system. This includes baseline review work for services, which includes the Fylde Coast services. The next steps include validating demand capacity data with provider organisations in order to support future service models that support access for our residents.

The National Health Service podiatry and orthotics service provided by the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust is made up of registered podiatrists, orthotists, nurses, and health care assistants who provide a comprehensive foot health service to adults and children across West Sussex and Brighton and Hove.

The service works with general practice (GP) services if prescriptions are required, and with local hospital trusts to provide treatment for patients who need specialist support.

To access the service an individual will need to be referred by their GP, a nurse, or an allied health professional. Children also need to be referred by a healthcare professional which may be a GP, a dentist, a school nurse, or community and specialist nurse. All referrals are assessed on the day of receipt and if a case is urgent, the service will contact the person within 48 hours to book an appointment.

Most appointments are face to face but they do offer home visits if a patient is housebound and meets set criteria. Some appointments can be performed via a telephone consultation.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning the majority of health and care services, including podiatry services in England. ICBs arrange healthcare services to meet the needs of their local population within the available resources, and to reduce inequalities in access to, and outcomes from, healthcare services.

The Department has no plans to reinstate the bursary for podiatry students, however the Government keeps funding arrangements for all healthcare students under close review.

Supplementary financial support is available to podiatry students through the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF). The LSF offers non-repayable funding, in addition to maintenance and tuition fee loans provided by the Student Loans Company. This includes a non-repayable training grant of £5,000 per academic year plus an additional specialist subject payment of £1,000 a year for podiatry students, and where eligible, £2,000 per year for students with childcare responsibilities.

We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients when they need it.

The NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Primary Care team continues to work with practices and primary care networks (PCNs) to improve the access to low-risk diabetic foot screening, as well as with its providers to ensure timely access to medium- and high-risk foot screening. The integrated care system is in the process of transforming its diabetes care pathway to ensure high quality, consistent care, closer to home for those with, or at risk of, diabetes across Shropshire, Telford, and Wrekin, which includes access to diabetic foot screening.

Whilst levels of diabetic foot screening across six of our nine PCNs are above the average levels for England, at 51.2% to 64.5% against an average for England of 46.9%, the integrated care board recognises that this is not universally the case, particularly in North Shropshire, where two of the three PCNs achieving below the average for England are situated, at 18.2% to 37.6%. These statistics are available in the National Diabetes Audit 2024/25 Quarterly Report April 2024 to December 2024.

NHS England continues to deliver the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) and provide footcare data, which is available in the NDA Core and National Diabetes Footcare Audit data dashboards, at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/clinical-audits-and-registries/national-diabetes-audit/dashboards

A trend of improvement in foot surveillance is evidenced by the NDA’s core data for 2023/24, showing that the percentage of people with type 1 diabetes who received general practice foot checks in England reached 70.6%, versus 67.2% in 2022/23. The proportion of people with type 2 diabetes who received foot check examinations in 2023/24 was 81.3%, up from 78.8% in 2022/23.

Podiatry services are commissioned locally. In Runcorn and Helsby, podiatry services are provided by Halton Podiatry hosted by Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The average wait for podiatry services is 18 weeks.

Podiatry services are commissioned locally. The podiatry services catchment area for Halton, Cheshire West, and Cheshire is split between the Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and the Cheshire and Wirrall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Both trusts record data in different ways, and as such there is no way to provide a consistent picture of waits across the area.

The Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides podiatry services in Halton. The average wait for podiatry services in Halton is 18 weeks. The Cheshire and Wirrall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides podiatry services in Cheshire West and Cheshire. The trust has advised that patients are waiting an average of six weeks for nail surgery, 15 weeks for podiatry biomechanics services, and for those patients that are high risk, with additional complex health needs like diabetes, the average wait is three weeks.

Data reports from the Stockport NHS Foundation Trust show that the average wait time for their podiatry services in 2023/24 was 13 weeks, and that the average wait time reported for August 2024, the most recent data available, was 17.9 weeks.

Integrated care boards are responsible for ensuring that the services they commission meet the needs of their local population with the resources they are allocated, including in respect of podiatry services. This starts with general practice (GP) registration, and everyone is entitled to register with a GP regardless of residential or immigration status.

The Department recognises the importance of reducing barriers to services for those experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping. This is why we supported the development and implementation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance, which provides recommendations on ways to improve access to, and engagement with, health and social care services for people experiencing homelessness. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng214

The Health and Care Professions Council regulates podiatrists and chiropodists in the United Kingdom. The combined number of podiatrists and chiropodists registered with the Health and Care Professions Council is available at the following link:

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/about-us/insights-and-data/the-register/

The Health and Care Professions Council regulates podiatrists and chiropodists in the United Kingdom. The combined number of podiatrists and chiropodists registered with the Health and Care Professions Council is available at the following link:

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/about-us/insights-and-data/the-register/

The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care asked systems to expand self-referral in seven community-based services from September 2023. By that time, integrated care boards (ICBs) reported over 600 services offering self-referral routes which is a 31% increase from August 2023, with expansion taking place across all seven service areas.

We are continuing to support ICBs expand further via a range of activities including communities of practice to share experiences and learning across the country.

The information requested is not held at constituency level. The data does not provide information on current waiting times but shows the number of people who are on the waiting list at a specific point in time.

Enfield North is covered by the North Central London Integrated Care Board (ICB). Across that ICB area, there were 2,540 people on the community health services waiting list for adult podiatry and podiatric surgery in July 2023.

Information on the average waiting time for podiatric appointments is not held in the format requested. As of July 2023, there were 126,128 adults on the waiting lists for podiatry and podiatric surgery. The following table shows how long people had been on the waiting list at a point in time:

The sum of weekly breakdowns may not match the total waiting list number as some providers were still collecting data by weeks waiting.

No assessment has been made.

Podiatrists play a vital role in supporting services in the National Health Service, with a range of roles in primary, secondary, and community care. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets an ambition to grow the number and proportion of NHS staff working in a range of areas, including primary and community care, to enable the service ambition to deliver more preventative and proactive care across the NHS.

The Department does not hold the information requested. NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Service workforce statistics for England, including by National Health Service trust. The data is not though able to identify staff employed in podiatric care services.