Home Visiting Advanced Clinical Practitioner
The post holder isan experienced advanced clinical practitioner working within the housebound and home visiting team to provide and oversee care for patients who are too unwell or too frail to access routine GP services. This includes unplanned or acute presentations and care planning assessments for individuals at home or in care homes typically living with moderate to severe frailty, alongside contributing to GP surgery based clinical activity when required.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will deliver comprehensive patient care from assessment and diagnosis through treatment and evaluation, demonstrating safe, evidence-based clinical decision making and practising across the four pillars of advanced practice. The role involves close collaboration with medical practitioners, nurses, advanced clinical practitioners, frailty coordinators, paramedic practitioners, and community and third sector partners. The post holder must work autonomously, provide high quality clinical care, and demonstrate excellent interpersonal, organisational, communication and management skills.
Job responsibilities
Advanced Clinical Practice
The post holder will:
- Provide a first point of contact within the practice for patients presenting with complex, undifferentiated, undiagnosed problems, making use of skills in history taking, physical examination, problem solving and clinical decision-making, to establish a diagnosis and management plan
- Work from the surgery and within the community as an autonomous practitioner caring for patients and families
- Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately, including initiation of emergency care
- Support improved health outcomes by integrating health promotion, education, screening, and skilled therapeutic communication into practice
- Instigate necessary invasive and non-invasive diagnostic tests or investigations and interpret findings/reports
- Deliver holistic, patient-and family-centred care, establishing individualised ongoing care and support plans that emphasis prevention and self-care
- Professionally make autonomous decisions for which they are accountable
- Work with the multi-disciplinary team within the practice and in the wider health care community to promote integrated pathways of care
- Provide safe, evidence-based, cost effective, individualised patient care
- Prescribe safe, effective and appropriate medication as defined by current legislative framework (if postholder independent prescriber)
- Actively participate in the delivery of existing targets for General Practice relating to patient care, prescribing and others as deemed by the arrangements in the general practice contract
- Refer patients directly to other services/agencies as appropriate
- Work within the practice guidelines, policies and protocols
- Contribute to the practice and national targets for high quality care (including QOF and enhanced services targets)
- Accurately document contemporaneous consultation details in inpatient records, adhering to up-to-date regulatory and professional requirements
- Work within code of professional conduct appropriate to role
Home Visiting
- Respond to same-day visit requests for acute illness, minor injuries, and exacerbations of chronic conditions
- Ensure safe and effective care delivery in patients' homes and care homes, considering social and environmental factors
- Support admission avoidance by managing suitable cases in the community and coordinating with community nursing, frailty teams, and social care
Evidence and Research
- Contribute to and undertake audits of clinical practice to ensure care provision is in line with guidelines for best practice
- Monitor the effectiveness of their own clinical practice through the quality assurance strategies such as the use of audit and peer review
- Promote evidence-based practice using the latest research-based guidelines and the development of practice-based research
- Participate in identification of community health needs and develop patient and family centred strategies to address them
- Help develop and set up new patient services and participate in initiatives to improve existing patient services
- Collaborate with other healthcare professionals in initiating and promoting research. Support where appropriate other individuals in the conduct of research and promote dissemination and implementation of findings.
Training, Education and Personal Development
- Keep up to date with pertinent health related policy and work with the practice team to consider the impact and strategies for implementation
- Participate in continuing professional development opportunities to ensure that up-to-date evidence-based knowledge and competence in all aspects of the role is maintained
- Maintain professional registration
- Contribute to their own learning and development by maintaining up to date skills and knowledge, undertaking additional training as required, this may be identified by the individual or the practice
- Monitor the effectiveness of their own clinical practice through the quality assurance strategies such as the use of audit and peer reviews
Leadership
- Promote a learning environment for patients and other health professionals
- Contribute to the planning and implementation of the teaching for existing staff, such as medical students, GP registrars, Nurses and Health Care Assistants, within the Practice
- Work collaboratively with colleagues within and external to the practice
- Participate in practice meetings and practice management meetings, reporting progress as required
Person Specification
Knowledge
- Understanding of systems to gain an understanding of the health needs of the Practice population as they relate to primary care
- Understanding of evidence-based practice
- Knowledge of national standards that inform practice (e.g. National Service Frameworks, NICE guidelines etc)
- Understanding of equal opportunity and diversity issues
Experience
- Minimum of 5 years post registration experience
- Demonstrate clinical Knowledge in acute and chronic disease management
- Demonstrate clinical competence in minor illness management
- Use of examination skills in practice
- Evidence of working autonomously and as part of a multi-disciplinary team
- Experience of Emergency Care
- Experience of General Practice
Qualifications
- Registered General Nurse (Currently registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council) or
- Paramedic registered with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) or
- Pharmacist registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) or
- Registered independent non-medical prescriber
- MSc (Advanced Practice)
- Teaching / Mentoring experience and /or qualification
Skills
- Ability to assess and manage patient risk effectively and safely
- Well-developed word processing/data collection/IT skills
- Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills
- Time management and ability to prioritise workload
- Able to analyse data and information, drawing out implications for the individual patient/impact on care plan
- Holds current valid driving licence or provides evidence of proposed alternative as means of providing domiciliary care.
- Experience of use of a medical software package
Other
- Must hold a valid UK driving licence and be able to drive for work purposes.
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.
