Working life
Working as a Prosthetist and Orthotist will mean that you’ll take part in a variety of different tasks during your working day. These can include:
- Working with members of the multidisciplinary team and wider healthcare team.
- Fitting a prosthesis for a military veteran and seeing the full rehabilitation process.
- Give a surgeon your advice when they’re performing an amputation.
- Helping a diverse range of ages, from children with cerebral palsy to adults with arthritis.
- Preventing a patient from needing an amputation through well-fitting splints and complex footwear.
Prosthetists and Orthotists work in a variety of settings including:
- Acute hospitals
- Primary Care
- Community Settings
- Private Practice
Prosthetists and Orthotists usually work with service users on a one to one basis and work alongside other Allied Health Professionals, medical staff and healthcare staff to support the service user through their patient journey.
Requirements
Becoming a Prosthetist or Orthotist requires an undergraduate or Masters degree in prosthetics and orthotics which allows full registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Only a few universities in the UK offer this programme and a full-time course can take three or four years depending on the university.
Entry requirements for an undergraduate programme are typically:
- Five GCSEs (grades A to C or 9 to 4), including English language, maths and science
- Two of three A levels, including maths, physics, biology/human biology or engineering
Or equivalent qualifications:
- A BTEC, HND or HNC which includes science
- A relevant T level (health or healthcare science may be accepted)
- A relevant NVQ
- A science-based access course
- Equivalent Scottish or Irish qualifications
Each university sets its own entry requirements, so it’s important to check with them directly which qualifications they will accept. In most cases, the results of an interview and other selection processes are also considered as well as your academic qualifications.
It’s also a good idea to spend some time with a Prosthetists and Orthotists team to get some firsthand experience of what the role’s really like before you apply.
Working with Prosthetists and Orthotists will also provide further opportunities to develop your career through apprenticeships and internal training in the future.
Degree apprenticeship route
For those interested in becoming a Prosthetist and Orthotist, there is a degree apprenticeship programme available.
To access the degree apprenticeship route, you would need to either apply for an apprentice post at a healthcare employer willing to support the programme or work as an assistant in Prosthetists and Orthotists before accessing the programme as an internal candidate.
Personal characteristics
To work successfully as a Prosthetist and Orthotist, you need to consider your own personal characteristics. You would need to have the following attributes or similar:
- Be accurate and methodical and have good attention to detail
- Be able to work as part of a team but also be able to use your own initiative
- Be able to work with all people from various backgrounds with different experiences
- Be interested in new technologies
- Be safety conscious
Skills required
To work successfully as a Diagnostic Radiographer, you need to consider the skills that you have. You would need to demonstrate the following:
- Be well organised and able to plan your time
- Be able to communicate with a variety of people using different methods
- Be able to interpret data
- Be comfortable discussing treatment plans with service users where required
- Be good at maths as there are several complex calculations
- Enjoy working with your hands as getting the best performance out of a prosthesis or aid can take several adjustments
Training and development opportunities
Once qualified and registered as an Allied Health Professional Prosthetist and Orthotist, you can continue to develop your career over time and can choose to specialise as either a Prosthetist or Orthotist. You’ll have access to a yearly continuing professional development (CPD) check-in where you can discuss any additional training needs or qualifications you would like to achieve.
You will also be encouraged to join The British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists (BAPO) who offer further development opportunities, email updates and networking opportunities so that you are able to continue to learn from others who work in the same role as you.
Once you have experience in Prosthetics and Orthotics, you can specialise in a number of different areas. You could work with a particular type of sports injury, diabetes, neurological conditions or work with children. You can also use your skills to teach or complete research.
Pay and benefits
Prosthetists and Orthotists in the NHS usually work 37.5 hours per week and depending on the setting and the service users you are working with, you could be required to work shifts, evenings and weekends too.
Prosthetists and Orthotists are paid using the Agenda for Change (AfC) system and will typically start their career on AfC band 5 but with experience, further training and additional qualifications, can progress further up the pay scale. Other benefits of working as a Prosthetist and Orthotist include access to a pension scheme, health service discounts such as a Blue Light Card and 27 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.