Physicians Associate

Job summary

The post holder will work within their clinical competencies as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide expertise in clinical management, provide face to face structured clinical assessments, manage long term conditions and improve patient access by addressing both the public health and social care needs of patients in the GP practice(s) that make up the Primary Care Network.

The post holder will provide leadership on quality improvement and clinical audit and well as managing some aspects of the Quality and Outcomes Framework.

This role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passion to deliver an excellent service within general practice.

Main duties of the job

Provide first point of contact for patients presenting with undifferentiated, undiagnosed problems, utilising history taking, physical examination, problem-solving and clinical decision-making skills to establish a working diagnosis and management plan working in partnership with patients.

Undertake as agreed surgery based consultations for emergency or routine problems including management of long-term conditions. In addition, undertake telephone consultations / home visits and participate in duty rotas

Instigate necessary invasive and non-invasive diagnostic tests or investigations and interpret findings/reports within the scope of a PAs practice. Discuss the result and implications of laboratory investigations with patients

Utilise clinical guidelines and promote evidence-based practice

Offer a holistic service to patients and their families, developing where appropriate an on-going plan of care/support with an emphasis on prevention and self-care

Refer patients directly to other services or agencies using appropriate referral pathways

Ensure safe handover of care within and outside the practice as appropriate

Work directly with members of the practice primary health care team and support integrated patient centred care through appropriate working with wider primary care / social care networks

About us

New Cross Alliance is a small but very committed and driven Primary Care Network. Consisting of 3 practices, all geographically close and based in Ilford, we have a population of circa 30,000 patients. We feel we are in tune with the need to recognise and work effectively with the concept of population health management and recognise the importance of the newly emerging primary care roles in this context. We are conscious of the need to change current traditional ways of working and begin to benefit from the concept of the patient seeing the right healthcare professional to get the most appropriate support and guidance.