Advanced Clinical Practitioner - Urgent Care

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Practice

·       The ACP will be expected to work autonomously and manage their own caseload of patients. This role involves working as part of the multi-disciplinary team, ensuring continuity and a high standard of assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients presenting to the Urgent Care/Treatment Centres on either the Guys or St Thomas' site

·       This role will include the prescribing of medicines.

·       The ACP should have experience working within the field of urgent care, with the capability to demonstrate advanced clinical reasoning and diagnostic skills when caring for patients’ presenting with undifferentiated health problems of varying acuity and severity.

·       The ACP should have the ability to initiate and interpret investigations including: skeletal X-ray, standard blood tests and other diagnostic imaging reports. 

·       They should be competent in clinical skills such as: Wound closure with sutures; reduction of dislocations and fracture manipulation; nerve blocks and plaster/cast application.

·       Practise in accordance with the respective code of professional conduct and within designated scope of practice, responsible and accountable for own decisions, actions and omissions at this level of practice.

·       Demonstrate a critical understanding and adhere to the defined boundaries of advanced practice in this role. 

·       To undertake advanced clinical practice as defined by the NHS England (NHSE) Framework and in doing so act as a source of expertise to others, in order to provide specialist multi-needs assessments using complex and advanced clinical reasoning demonstrating critical thinking, reflection and analysis to develop individual and group goal and task-oriented treatment plans.

·       Be a source of expert opinion for other staff across professional boundaries.

·       Have interpersonal skills that encourage patients and carers active participation in their care. Have advanced verbal and non-verbal communication skills. . Be able to receive and disseminate complex clinical information sensitively in all professional contexts, adapting to cultural and socioeconomic complexity.

·       The practitioner will use and demonstrate advanced sensory skills in the examination and assessment of patients with complex health conditions with narrow margins for error and demonstrates highly developed physical skills through clinical procedures and treatment where accuracy is important.

·       Use expertise and decision-making skills to inform clinical reasoning approaches when dealing with differentiated and undifferentiated individual presentations and complex situations, synthesising information from multiple sources to make appropriate evidence informed judgements and diagnoses.

·       To initiate, evaluate and modify a range of interventions which may include prescribing medicines advanced treatments and investigations.

·       Be able to exercise professional judgement to manage risk when uncertainty and complexity may be present and support teams to do likewise.

·       To network and work collaboratively with multi-agency and multi-professional groups to develop; maintaining and evaluating links to manage risk and issues across the wider health economy.

·       To act as a clinical role model / advocate for developing and delivering care that is responsive to changing requirements.

·       To be responsible for ordering investigations as appropriate and provide treatment and care both individually, as part of a team, and through referral to other agencies.

·       Will have the authority to admit or discharge patients from their caseload and refer patients to other health care providers as appropriate if this is within the scope of practice.

·       To evidence the underpinning subject-specific competencies to demonstrate capabilities that are appropriate to the individual, role setting and scope.

·        Undertake complaint investigations relating to patient care, leading the development of action plans to address area(s) of concern, identify learning and propose change to practice.

·       To have the knowledge and capability to appropriately apply national guidelines and legislation relating to health and social care to local service provision

·       To demonstrate effective communication skills, supporting people in making decisions, planning care or seeking to make positive changes using HEE’s framework to promote person centred approach in health and care.

Leadership and Management

·       To contribute to the Trust’s, Directorates and Teams Clinical Governance and Quality assurance programmes, setting and monitoring practice standards, jointly developing guidelines, protocols and innovative solutions with the service and in liaison with interdisciplinary colleagues.

·       To lead and manage staff within the service, providing effective guidance, supervision, mentorship and performance management at an advanced level.

·       Work with the clinical lead and Human Resources Department in the recruitment, selection, appointment and retention of staff.

·       To work in close partnership with the appropriate Clinical Leads and Service Managers to ensure relevant national initiatives and targets in relation to speciality are met.

·       To inform the service of changes in clinical practice which may influence service delivery, business planning and strategic reviews to support the delivery of meeting agreed objectives.

·       To critically apply clinical expertise in appropriate facilitatory ways to provide consultancy across professional and service boundaries.

·       To influence clinical reasoning and decision making to enhance quality, reduce unwarranted variation and promote the sharing and adoption of best practice. 

·       To pro-actively initiate and develop effective relationships, fostering clarity of roles within teams across the Trust and wider health economy to encourage effective and efficient services.

·       To evaluate own practice and participate in multi-professional team and service evaluation, demonstrating the impact of advanced practice on service function, effectiveness and quality, i.e. outcomes, experience and safety.

·       To actively engage in peer review to inform own and other’s practice. The practitioner will have the capability to be able to, formulate and implement strategies to act on learning and make improvements.

·       To lead new practice and service redesign solutions within a quality improvement (QI) framework in response to feedback, evaluation, need and current evidence, working across boundaries.

·       To actively seek feedback, involvement and engagement with patients, carers, their families, service users and colleagues in the co-production of service improvements.

·       To demonstrate team leadership, resilience and determination, managing situations that are unfamiliar, complex or unpredictable.

Education

·       To critically assess and address own learning needs, developing a personal development plan that reflects the breadth of ongoing professional development across the four pillars of advanced clinical practice.

·       To engage in own supervision, mentorship and performance review to continually demonstrate learning and development in the advanced role.

·       To engage in self-directed learning at an advanced level, critically reflecting to maximise clinical skills and knowledge as well as own potential to lead and develop care and services.

·       To advocate for and contribute to a culture of organisational learning to inspire future and existing staff.

·       To support the team to build capacity and capability through work based learning and inter-professional learning.

·       To act as a role model, educator, supervisor, coach and mentor seeking to instil and develop confidence and capability in others. 

·       To teach / deliver core or specialist training to the multi-professional workforce.

 Research and Quality Improvement (QI)

·       To clinically engage in research/ QI activity, adhering to good research/ QI practice guidance, so that evidenced based strategies are developed and implemented to enhance quality, safety, productivity and efficiency.

·       To evaluate and audit own and other’s clinical practice.

·       To critically appraise and synthesise the outcome of relevant research and QI evaluations using the results to underpin own practice and to inform that of others.

Professional Accountability:

·       To comply with all Trust policies and procedures.

·       To demonstrate and role model Trust Values and Behaviours at all times.

·       To act in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) code of professional conduct and other Trust, professional and statutory guidance, policies and rules.

·       To make professionally autonomous decisions, for which they are accountable. 

·       Responsible for own professional development and clinical/managerial update.

·       To undertake any other duties commensurate with the grade as directed.

·       The practitioner is responsible for the safe use of expensive or highly complex equipment, where appropriate to the role. For example; Endoscopes, Ultrasound, Mechanical Ventilation Devices.

·       The post holder is required to follow Trust policies and procedures which are regularly updated.