Advanced Clinical Practitioner

Job responsibilities

Key duties and responsibilities

Clinical Practice

Deliver a high standard of care using advanced clinical skills and in-depth theoretical knowledge

Be responsible for telephone triage of patients

Undertake Unscheduled Care clinics for patients who need to be seen on the day

Undertake home/care home visits as necessary.

Practice in compliance with respective code of professional conduct and within own scope of practice, being responsible and accountable for decisions and actions.

Clinically examine, assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate treatment/ interventions and care for patients, using expertise and decision-making skills to inform clinical reasoning approaches when dealing with differentiated and undifferentiated individual presentations and complex situations; using information from multiple sources to make appropriate, evidence-based judgements and/or diagnoses

Diagnose and manage both acute and chronic conditions, initiating, evaluating, and modifying a range of interventions which may include prescribing and reviewing medicines for therapeutic effectiveness (appropriate to patient need and in accordance with evidence-based practice and national protocols within scope of practice), therapies, lifestyle advice and care into a management plan

Work in partnership with individuals, families, and carers, using a range of assessment methods as appropriate (e.g., of history-taking; holistic assessment; identifying risk factors; mental health assessments; requesting, undertaking and/or interpreting diagnostic tests; and conducting health needs assessments).

Offer a holistic service to patients and their families, supporting people in making decisions, planning care, or seeking to make positive changes, with an emphasis on health promotion and self-care

Where the post holder is an independent prescriber: to prescribe safe, effective, and appropriate medication in line with current guidance and legislation

Work with patients in order to support compliance with and adherence to prescribed treatments, providing information and advice on prescribed or over the counter medication on medication regimens, side effects and interactions

Support and manage health needs of women presenting for family planning or sexual health consultation

Assess, identify, and refer patients presenting with mental health needs in accordance with the NSF for Mental Health

Collaborate with other members of the Primary Health Care Team, accepting referrals and referring to them

Refer patients directly to other services and agencies as appropriate

Exercise professional judgement to manage risk appropriately, especially where there may be complex and unpredictable events and supporting teams to do likewise to ensure safety of individuals, families, and carers.

Act as a clinical role model/advocate for developing and delivering care that is responsive to changing requirements, informed by an understanding of local population health needs, agencies, and networks.

Deliver care according to NSF, NICE guidelines, and evidence-based care.

To record accurate data in the patient records to an agreed standard.

Leadership and Management

• Pro-actively initiate and develop effective relationships, fostering clarity of roles within teams, to encourage productive working.
• Prioritise, organise, and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality
• Demonstrate a person-centred approach to service delivery and development.
• Evaluate own practice, and participate in multi-disciplinary service and team evaluation, demonstrating the impact of advanced clinical practice on service function and effectiveness, and quality (i.e., outcomes of care, experience, and safety).
• Actively engage in peer review to inform own and others practice, formulating and implementing strategies to act on learning and make improvements.
• Actively seek feedback and involvement from individuals, families, carers, communities and to help improve services.
• Critically apply advanced clinical expertise to enhance quality, reduce unwarranted variation and promote the sharing and adoption of best practice.
• Demonstrate team leadership, resilience, and determination, managing situations that are unfamiliar, complex, or unpredictable and seeking to build confidence in others.
• Continually develop practice in response to changing population health needs.
• Demonstrate receptiveness to challenge and preparedness to constructively challenge others, escalating concerns that affect individuals, families, carers, communities and colleagues safety and well-being when necessary.

Education, teaching, and mentoring

• Maintain a clinical portfolio that evidences advanced health assessment skills and competencies. Assess and address own learning needs, growing a personal development plan that reflects the breadth of ongoing professional development across the four pillars of advanced clinical practice.
• Engage in self-directed learning, critically reflecting to maximise clinical skills and knowledge, as well as own potential to lead and develop both care and services.
• Participate in regular performance review with clinical supervisor and take part in the annual appraisal review where personal learning requirements will be identified and in accordance with Practice requirements.
• Undertake further specialist training as required by service needs and the changing requirements of service provision.
• Advocate for and contribute to a culture of organisational learning to inspire future and existing staff.
• Promote a learning environment for patients, clinicians, and other members of the team.
• Share learning and best practice, contributing to the learning experience of medical and clinical staff in the practice and in the PCN and its member practices such as medical students, nurse students etc.
• Provide supervision and coaching/ mentoring to others in the Practice and or PCN and its member practices to help development of the team.
• Take part in the in-house education events, delivering sessions where appropriate

Research

• Engage in research activity, adhering to good research practice guidance, so that evidence-based strategies are developed and applied to enhance quality, safety, productivity, and value for money.
• Monitor the effectiveness of their own clinical practice through quality assurance strategies such as the use of audit and peer review, using the results to underpin own practice and to inform that of others.
• Support and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation
• Take a critical approach to identify gaps in the evidence base and its application to practice, alerting appropriate individuals and organisations to these and how they might be addressed in a safe and pragmatic way.
• Actively identify potential need for further research to strengthen evidence for best practice.
• Disseminate best practice research findings and quality improvement projects
• Facilitate collaborative links between clinical practice and research through proactive engagement, networking with academic, clinical, and other active researchers, including Practice Research team

Delivering a quality service

Maintain professional registration at all times.

Produce accurate, contemporaneous, and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies, and procedures.

Be aware of data protection issues within the Practice.

Use technology and appropriate software as an aid to management in planning, implementation, and monitoring of care, presenting and communicating information.

Review and process data using accurate read codes in order to ensure easy and accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes.

Assist in the development and implementation of policies and procedures.

Understand and apply legal issues that support the identification of vulnerable and abused children and adults and be aware of statutory child/vulnerable patients health procedures and local guidance.

To attend and participate in Significant Event Audits.

To work within the policies and procedures of the Practice, and within statutory requirements.

Qualifications

Essential

• Relevant Professional Qualification RGN. RMN Masters Degree in Advanced Practice or have completed the Centre for advancing practice ePortfolio (supported) route Non-Medical prescriber

Desirable

• Teaching qualification Clinical Supervisor Mentorship qualification
• NMP Qualification (can prescribe)

Personal Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Car owner or regular access to a vehicle
• Flexible to meet the needs of the service
• Excellent organisational skills, show the ability to plan and organise workload and facilitate learning events
• Strong IT skills
• Ability to work under pressure and manage a diverse workload
• Highly motivated Team player
• Ability to work across boundaries
• Ability to work and make decisions autonomously and take initiative Positive role model

Desirable

• Knowledge of EMIS Web

Experience

Essential

• Awareness of current national and local agenda in health and social care.
• Substantial post registration experience in at least one of the following settings:- General Practice, Walk in Centre or GP Out of Hours service
• Ability to use complex decision making to inform diagnosis, investigation, complete management of episodes of care within a broad scope of practice.
• Knowledge and understanding of clinical governance
• Demonstrate the ability to work in a highly demanding environment
• Ability to work independently and make autonomous clinical decisions within own area of competence
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• High level communication skills, both written and verbal
• Ability to work as part of multi professional team Knowledge of audit /research and experience of analysing findings to improve practice
• Ability to reflect on own practice

Desirable

• Experience of quality improvement and change management
• Experienced in the development and implementation of protocols and clinical guidelines
• Experience of working with community development initiatives

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Extensive post qualification experience.
• Current experience in assessing and treating adults and children in a primary care / urgent care setting.
• Highly developed clinical judgement in holistic assessment of patient needs.
• Portfolio of evidence showing achievements in practice.
• Ability to work autonomously at advanced practice level and make expert clinical decisions to support the development of practice services and inform practice
• Communication of difficult messages to patients and families Negotiation and conflict management skills within the context of multi professional and multi-agency working
• Evidence of influencing motivating and negotiating with others to achieve change in relation to care
• Ability to problem solve, with a strong solution focused approach

Desirable

• Supervision experience, helping practice nurses in their development and career progression
• Experience of leading patient involvement/feedback
• Experience in remote consultation

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).