BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NZCPS

The New Zealand podiatry profession began to focus on Podiatric surgery in the early 1980’s. Keeping pace with similar professional advancements in the United Kingdom, and closer to home in Australia. Credit for the earliest attempts to form a center of podiatric surgical practice belongs to three registered podiatrists in Christchurch. The Harley Podiatry Group comprised Sam Irons, John (Malcolm) Maine and Beryl Toop. They, like all pioneers began practicing lesser toe joint surgery in Christchurch based upon their wish to advance the practice of podiatric medicine alongside similar professional advancements elsewhere in the world. They proceeded after establishing contact and receiving mentorship from Australian podiatrist John Pickering who was similarly pioneering podiatric sugery in Victoria, Australia. As with all early advancements into “new” scopes of practice in any profession, pioneers are often “learning on the job” and in doing so are “flying by the seat of their pants”. This was the case with the Harley Group of practitioners. They recognised the need for advancement without recognising the need to prove competence through recognised formal education and clinical training.

That said, without them bringing out their passion and belief for the rightful advancement of the general scope of podiatry to include podiatric surgery, as in many other countries in the Western World, the NZCPS and Podiatric Surgery in New Zealand would have been  a longer time becoming a reality. So we do owe the early pioneers a huge vote of thanks for “Taking the risks” that they did in order to improve the competence of podiatrists as well as the level of care for our patients.

The Harley Group were keen to share their new found knowledge of podiatric surgery with the NZ School of Podiatry, which in those days was housed at the campus of the, now disestablished, Central Institute of Technology (CIT) in Heretaunga, Upper Hutt. In those days and up until its demise, the CIT School of Podiatry maintained very close links and a strong collegial working relationship with the profession which seems deminished today. The Harley Group invited the writer, a Lecturer at the NZ School of Podiatry at the time, to visit them in Christchurch to witness a surgical session. The CIT NZ School of Podiatry had been discussing the role of podiatric surgery in the profession from an International perspective following the introduction of ingrown toenail surgery into the CIT undergraduate program in the late 70’s. On behalf of the CIT School of Podiatry I accepted their invitation and attended the Harley Group surgical session. At the School of Podiatry we had already been learning about the operating room (OR) protocols required to practice safely and competently in our clinical training program. From the outset it became very apparent that the Harley Group had no dedicated operating room facility. They had little or no training or understanding of routine OR protocols thus placing their patients, and themselves at extreme risk. To their credit the Harley Group ceased practicing podiatric surgery once they realised that they were at risk of being censured for practicing outside their scope of practice and without dedicated surgical facilities which could guarantee best safe practice. On my return to the CIT I started to formulate my thoughts around the establishment of a podiatric surgical training program to put to the profession in New Zealand. The Head of the CIT School of Podiatry at the time was Richard Winder. As course supervisor he had been actively involved and instrumental in the development and writing of the CIT School of Podiatry UG Training Syllabus. Richard had copies of almost all of the UG Podiatry Syllabi from other schools in the British Commonwealth as well as a couple from the USA. He gave me access to all of the Syllabi and from them all I cobbled together all of the course information which became the framework for the Post Graduate Podiatric Surgical Training Program and the establishment of The NZ College of Podiatric Surgery.

By 1987, the CIT recognised the future need for post graduate podiatric surgical training and began to develop plans to build a surgical training facility on campus. The self-contained twin theatre, central sterilisation unit and radiology facility was completed in 1991 and served the podiatric surgical needs of the population of the Hutt Valley and Greater Wellington Region. Surgical training (involving 3rd year UG students as circulating assistants) was overseen by the New Zealand College of Podiatric Surgery and post graduate programs were successfully run in conjunction and collaboration with the NZCPS, the NZ School of Podiatric Medicine and the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine (USA). Over the past three decades, podiatry educators from all over the world made valuable contributions to the developing curriculum which made the NZ School of Podiatic Medicine  rather a unique centre of podiatric medical education  excellence in the world. In 1986 the profession and the Podiatrists Board of New Zealand, undertook a needs analysis in conjunction with the Central Institute of Technology (CIT NZ School of Podiatric Medicine) to identify competencies for podiatry in 2000 (and beyond). A Bachelor of Health Science was introduced in 1993. When the CIT was disassembled, in 1999, due to political  reasoning around the conversion of Polytech’s to University status,  the CIT podiatry program (minus The CIT syllabus documentation) was moved to the Health Science Faculty, Auckland University of Technology (AUT). To the detriment of podiatric surgical training in NZ the AUT failed continue the collaborative surgical training and did not offer the provision of the operating room facilities previously enjoyed by and provided to the profession by the CIT in the past.

Trevor Tillotson

Chairperson NZCPS