Advanced Clinical Practitioner

Job responsibilities

The following are the core responsibilities of the advanced nurse practitioner. There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:

1. Assess and holistically clinically examine patients with both minor and complex needs through history taking, physical examination and appropriate use of investigations to confirm diagnosis.

2. Plan, implement and evaluate an effective management plan for the patient, ensuring safe discharge/referral and/or transfer to an appropriate health care service.

3. Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side-effects and interactions.

4. Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care.

5. Refer and discharge safely ensuring that safety-netting advice is offered.

6. Triage telephone referrals, calls from external clinicians, patients and others into a range of services appropriately as required.

7. Manage patients presenting with a range of acute and chronic medical conditions, providing subject matter expert advice to patients

8. Develop, implement and embed health promotion and well-being programmes

9. Implement and evaluate individual specialised treatment plans for chronic disease patients

10. Identify, manage and support patients as risk of developing long-term conditions, preventing adverse effects on the patients health

11. Request pathology services as necessary

12. Process and interpret pathology and other test results as required

13. Maintain accurate clinical records in conjunction with extant legislation

14. Prioritise health issues and intervene appropriately

15. Support the team in dealing with clinical emergencies

16. Recognise, assess and refer patients presenting with mental health needs

17. Support patients in the use of their prescribed medicines or over the counter medicines (within own scope of practice), reviewing annually as required

18. Contribute to practice targets (QOF etc.), complying with local and regional guidance

19. Liaise with external services / agencies to ensure the patient is supported appropriately (vulnerable patients etc.)

20. Delegate clinical responsibilities appropriately (ensuring safe practice and the task is within the scope of practice of the individual)

21. Support the clinical team with all safeguarding matters, in accordance with local and national policies

22. Understand practice and local policies for substance abuse and addictive behaviour, referring patients appropriately

23. Deliver opportunistic health promotion where appropriate

In addition to the primary responsibilities, the advanced nurse practitioner may be requested to:

1. Act as the audit lead, effectively utilising the audit cycle

2. Act as the IPC lead for the practice, ensuring compliance, undertaking audit as necessary

3. Participate in local initiatives to enhance service delivery and patient care

4. Support and participate in shared learning within the practice

5. Develops an area of specialist interest, taking the lead within the practice

6. Continually review clinical practices, responding to national policies and initiatives where appropriate

7. Participate in the review of significant and near-miss events applying a structured approach i.e. root cause analysis (RCA)

8. Drives the development of ACP services within the practice, liaising external agencies and professional organisations as required

9. Develops practice administrative and clinical protocols in line with the needs of the patient and current legislation

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Healthcare Professional
• MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice
• Qualified Prescriber

Desirable

• Minor Illness Qualification
• Teaching Qualification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in a primary care environment
• Experience of working as a senior clinician
• Accountability of own role and other roles in a practitioner-led service

Desirable

• Experience of prescribing and undertaking medication reviews

Clinical Knowledge

Essential

• Management and treatment of patients with acute exacerbation of long-term conditions
• Management of patients with long-term needs
• Clinical examination skills and competence
• Assessing the health care needs of patients with undifferentiated and undiagnosed problems
• Developing care plans for health in consultation with patients and in line with current practice disease management protocols
• Making professional, autonomous decisions in relation to presenting problems, whether self-referred or referred form from other health care workers within the organisationUnderstands the importance of evidence based practice
• Broad knowledge of clinical governance
• Ability to record accurate clinicial notes
• Ability to work within own scope of practice and understanding when to refer to GP's
• Knowledge of health promotion strategies

Desirable

• Knowledge of public health issues in the local area
• Awareness of issues within the wider health arena

Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral)
• Strong IT skills
• Clear, polite telephone manner
• Competent in the use of Office and Outlook
• Effective time management (planning and organising)
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously
• Good interpersonal skills
• Problem solving and analytical skills
• Ability to follow clinical policy and procedure

Desirable

• EMIS skills
• Experience with audit and able to lead audit programmes
• Experience with clinical risk management

Person Qualities

Essential

• Polite and confident
• Flexible and co-operative
• Motivated, forward thinker
• Problem solver with the ability to process information accurately and effectively, interpreting data as required
• High levels of integrity and loyalty
• Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations
• Ability to work under pressure / in stressful situations
• Effectively able to communicate and understand the needs of the patient
• - Commitment to ongoing professional development
• - Effectively utilises resources
• - Punctual and committed to supporting the team effort

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).