Job description
About the Role
At Xcel Health Group, First Contact Practitioners (FCPs) play a vital role in delivering frontline musculoskeletal (MSK) care directly to patients, without the need for a GP referral. Positioned within GP practices, FCPs provide prompt, accurate clinical assessments, offer tailored treatment or management advice, and make referrals to secondary care when necessary. By interpreting clinical findings and creating effective management plans, FCPs help streamline patient pathways and improve access to timely care. Although based in a primary care environment, FCPs benefit from ongoing support through Xcel Health's leadership team, including line managers and roadmap supervisors.
Key Responsibilities
Serve as the MSK clinical specialist within primary care, delivering safe and effective care within your scope of practice while collaborating closely with GPs and other healthcare providers.
Build strong, collaborative relationships as a key member of the Primary Care Network (PCN), engaging with stakeholders across services.
Promote patient independence through structured self-management plans that support behavioural change, improved mobility, increased physical activity, and reduced reliance on medication.
Embody Xcel Health's values by maintaining professional, open, and respectful communication.
Offer flexible clinical support across multiple GP practices within your assigned PCN as service demands require.
Proactively adapt to the changing needs of PCNs and the wider primary care sector.
Maintain clear and accurate appointment records to demonstrate service effectiveness and value to commissioners.
Ensure all clinical notes and documentation meet professional and organisational standards in both quality and timeliness.
Assess patients, without prior contact with their GP, to establish a rapid and accurate diagnosis and management plan either virtually and/or face to face.
Deliver effective rehabilitation, activity plans, and programs face-to-face and virtually.
Progress and request investigations to facilitate diagnosis and potential next steps.
To understand the information limitations derived from investigations and the relative sensitivity and specificity of tests, for example, X-rays, blood tests, and MRI scans.
Ability to interpret results from investigations, apply context to the patient, and act on results as an autonomous practitioner or in conjunction with appropriate discussion with the wider MDT.