Hi Sarah,
I don't wish to be a 'Debbie Downer ' here but have you thought this through?
An FHP qualification is designed to be a stand-alone qualification which doesn't need 'complementing'. It is a medical-type qualification for which you will carry specialist insurance.
I think you will find that once you start practising you will have enough to do in footcare without offering any additional 'beauty' services.
If you plan to be mobile and enter peoples' homes to provide footcare during this Covid Crisis there will be stringent rules for the use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) its application and disposal.
In essence the general advice is along the following lines: • Make sure that all patients are pre-screened over the phone to ensure that attending to them is safe, required and possible (i.e. if their problem is likely to be out of your scope – please seek to arrange that remotely so that they minimise the amount of people they have to see to sort their problem out) • You will need to reduce the amount of patient caseloads that you see in a day – ensure that you have sufficient gaps between patient caseloads so as to allow for disposal of PPE items and decontamination of any accessory items that you would use patient-to-patient • You will need to seek to minimise the amount of time spent with patients WITHOUT reducing the quality of care that you provide. Prolonged exposure to individuals increases the risk of disease transmission. This might include completing the patient record card after you have left the company of your patient • Where possible, practical, appropriate and agreeable with the patient, seek to provide treatments in an outdoor environment • Ensure that you employ the strictest infection control practices and have adequate PPE • Where possible seek to take payment over the phone or via card transaction PPE Guidelines: • You will be required to use surgical gloves that are disposed of after every treatment and/or after they have become damaged or visibly soiled with bodily fluids (as is usual practice) • Hand-washing has to be thorough and rigorous before donning PPE and immediately after removing PPE • DO NOT touch your face at any point whilst wearing PPE or once it is removed until you have thoroughly washed your hands • FFP2 or FFP3 masks would be optimal BUT surgical face masks are appropriate where treating a patient where there is low suspicion of them having COVD-19. Surgical face masks are to be disposed of after every appointment. FFP2 or FFP3 masks may be reused up to 3 times if they have not become damaged or soiled AND/OR where you have not been in close contact with the face or upper-respiratory tract of a person with suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19. • Patients should be offered and encouraged to wear a surgical face mask for the duration of their contact with you and they can dispose of them following their contact with you • A face shield / visor is to be worn at all times during the consultation (these can be wiped clean thoroughly with a disinfectant between patients) • Regular aprons will suffice but you may wish to wear full-length sleeved gowns Whilst it is not possible to fully socially distance whilst providing treatment to patients, we are fortunate that we are working at the distal end of their body and are typically >1m away from their face, mouth and nose. Thus, risk of transmission is relatively low compared to in other health and care profession contexts. Outside of the moments of treatment, you should seek to place a distance of >2m between you and the patient and you and anyone else in their household.
I know that this is a long post but I think you need to be aware of the problems involved with providing any medically based service at the moment and the additional costs and time involved.
As an example, I have had to raise my prices £5 per patient in order to cover the additional cost.
