Who are the Nail Carers?

The Nail Carers are a workforce that have been developed to provide a basic, quality foot care service which is affordable. Nail Carers are based in a growing number of locations across the city.

What Qualifications do the Nail Carers have?

Nail Carers are trained and assessed by Podiatrists and Beauty Therapists over a period of 14 weeks. Their training programme includes:

Toe nail and finger nail cutting, understanding their professional boundaries and knowing when to refer to a GP or NHS Podiatry
Foot and hand massage
Nail varnishing
General falls prevention advice
The importance of following safe working practices
An awareness of safeguarding vulnerable adult issues and when action needs to be taken
Health and Safety and other relevant legislation

Nail Carers are trained to cut the nails of people with diabetes; however they must seek authorisation to do so from a GP or other specialist before commencing a service. If you have diabetes the Nail Carer will normally either give you a form to take to your GP for his/her signature, or they will send it in the post and ask him/her to return it.

What support do Nail Carers have?

The NHS has commissioned the following support for Birmingham’s Registered Nail Carers:

A Nail Carer’s NHS help line that they can use when they have a query about their nail cutting; Nail Carers are also able to refer directly to an NHS Podiatrist for a specialist opinion or some additional routine help when appropriate
An annual supervision session for each Nail Carer to ensure they maintain their quality of care
An annual training session for each Nail Carer in order to keep them up to date with current issues

In order to Register they are required to:

Have completed the training and be certificated
Have appropriate insurance
Have had a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check
Sign up to and implement the Nail Carer contract of standards
Use instruments that are approved by the NHS Podiatrists