Podiatry on NHS for children?

[river1]

Can anyone advise to what extent this would be covered on NHS? DD2 is now 9 but was born with positional talipes. We paid for private assessment and physio when she was a baby as NHS wouldnt do much and it corrected over time although she still leans to the inside (pronation). Over the last 6 months she has been having more and more trouble with foot pain especially in heel which i gather can be caused by this. We have a GP appointment next week but i wanted to get a feel for whether assessment and customised insoles etc if needed would be covered on the NHS if it is causing pain? thanks

They should refer her to orthotics rather than podiatry. They will be able to do a proper assessment and know more about what's available.

thanks - i thought podiatry normally did orthotics? Good to know.

Not in my area there's a specialist orthotics department. The pods team know quite a bit about it but they refer you over to orthotics if they think you need anything. Good luck!

Thanks, just hope they will help as i know private ones are expensive. They were very uninterested in the talipes when she was a baby which is why i am doubtful. But i suppose they have to at least acknowledge that it could be the reason for the problems now?

Ds gets insoles on the NHS (hypermobile and flat footed). He sees a podiatrist as his are off the shelf ones, dnephew has to have custom ones and a shoe raise and gets them via orthotics on the NHS too.

It is orthotics here too. Whether insoles etc are covered by nhs depends on level of need.

We have a specialist paediatric podiatry dept who also do orthotics. They are also connected to physio.

She might need Physio - gp can refer to them and they will refer on for orthotics if needed, or gp could refer to both. Worth getting nhs Physio opinion as there may be muscle tightness which has developed as she has grown and that will need sorting out for the insoles to be effective.

Thank you all x