Podiatric surgery is a surgical speciality recognised by the Podiatry Board of Australia (PBA) under the National Law Act 2009. The Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency (AHPRA) administers the regulation of podiatric surgery on behalf of the PBA as it does all medical specialities for the Medical Board of Australia. Podiatric surgery is defined as that part of surgery, which deals with the diagnosis, surgical and adjunctive treatment of disease, injuries and defects of the human foot and ankle and associated structures.

The PBA is responsible for the clinical governance of the podiatry profession, and podiatric surgery as a surgical speciality. Podiatric surgeons must undertake CPD activities beyond those required of podiatrists. In addition, Australasian College of Podiatric Surgeons (ACPS) Fellows must participate in CPD activities including surgical audit and peer review, to maintain accreditation. The A&NZ Podiatry Accreditation Council is currently developing an independent accreditation process for podiatric surgery, which ACPS supports.

By way of brief outline, podiatric surgeons are podiatrists who have undergone a formal, surgical training program supervised by the ACPS. Selected candidates have graduated from a four-year undergraduate podiatry course at various universities around Australia, covering essential disciplines in medicine, surgery, pathology, pharmacology, physiology biomechanics and anatomy. Candidates who undertake surgical training must have a minimum two years’ internship in general podiatry and complete a Masters degree, to make them eligible to apply to the college for a training post.

Selection to the training post involves evaluation of emotional intelligence, neuromuscular coordination and manual dexterity. Successful candidates then undergo an examination and interview to select the most suitable trainee.

Podiatric surgery training is a three-part program – progressing from observation, to increasing participation, to case management. Each registrar typically has exposure to 400-500 surgical training procedures per year. All registrars must do interstate and overseas clinical placements. Exit examination occurs before a panel of podiatric surgeons and specialist medical practitioners. Surgical training usually takes six years.

Private health funds do rebate on podiatric surgery, the rebate level determined by the individual fund.

Substantive training documentation is available from www.acps.edu.au/admission_training.php

Mr Frank Pigliardo, Podiatric Surgeon, Vice President ACPS