Parish and Bell were a foot orthotic clinic in the UK that advertised nationally in newspapers. They apparently used high pressure sales tactics and marketing methods as well as charge what appear to be extortionist prices for foot orthotics (usually more than one pair!).. They recently went bankrupt leaving a lot of unhappy patients and numerous threads on a number of forums. The thread on Podiatry Arena is most interesting as Les Bailey from Parish and Bell tried to blame everyone else for their downfall, except themselves (and still managed a ski holiday in Europe after the downfall!). They claimed that the criticisms were just Podiatrists being jealous. The most alarming thing for me in this whole episode is that those running Parish and Bell are not being held accountable. The owner was a former osteopath who is no longer registered or licensed to practice as an osteopath, let alone as any other sort of health professional. Most health professionals involved in using foot orthotics are registered or licensed to practice. In the case of Parish and Bell and in the UK, they were not, so are not accountable for what happened. They are not accountable for the lack of duty-of-care that they owe patients. See the Parish and Bell thread at Podiatry Arena for the reactions from Podiatrists, Osteopaths and patients to this issue -- judge for yourself.

17 June 2009:

Also old thread on HeelSpurs.com and on a consumer forum.

9 September 2009:

Many like to phrase comments like mine as"Podiatry vs Les Bailey" as podiatry do not like the competition.That is certainly not the case. I do many workshops for osteopaths, physiotherapists, etc, on foot orthotics. We are all in the same game of helping patients and, for me its never ever been about: "us vs them" (I pity those who fall into this camp). My only issue is the unsupported and unscientific cliams being made and the lack of accountability. Those who support Les Bailey, are remarkably silent when asked about the ethics and morailty of anyone or any business avoiding accountability and promises made by going bankrupt and then setting up around the corner in the same business.

Craig Payne