Job responsibilities
The post holder should demonstrate critical thinking and is a caring, compassionate and committed experienced ACP who, acting within their professional boundaries, will provide care for the presenting patient from initial history taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of care. They will demonstrate safe, competent clinical decision-making and expert care, including assessment and diagnostic skills, for patients within the general practice.
The post holder will commit to safe clinical decision-making process. They will communicate and work collaboratively with the general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing clinical leadership as required.
The post holder will be able to work collaboratively with all members of the multi-professional team to help resolve clinical issues and work to improve the quality and safety of care offered to the registered patients.
Key Responsibilities Summary
- Conduct full clinical assessments, diagnosis, and autonomous prescribing.
- Manage acute and chronic conditions using evidence-based practice.
- Provide holistic, patient-centered care considering physiological and psychological needs.
- Support advance care planning and admission avoidance strategies.
- Lead and contribute to clinical education, supervision, and team development.
- Work collaboratively across the PCN and wider healthcare system.
- Prioritize and manage complex caseloads including frailty and long-term conditions.
- Participate in audit, service improvement, and clinical governance activities.
- Maintain accurate and contemporaneous patient records.
PCN expectations:
You will be an integral member of the clinical team, completing streaming, independently assessing patients and prescribing clinical intervention. You will also be completing administrative tasks to include prescriptions, referrals, pathology results for the patient's you've seen.
Work as an autonomous clinician across all areas to develop and provide expert clinical advice, support and care.
Develop and use advanced clinical skills to analyse and interpret history of illness, presenting symptoms and physical findings to enable diagnosis, planning and treatments of patients.
Recognise the early symptoms of disease exacerbation and acute illness based on an understanding of disease, the disease process, and current evidence and practice standards.
Interpret history of illness, presenting symptoms and physical findings to enable diagnosis, planning and treatment of patients.
Work with patients in order to support compliance with and adherence to prescribed treatments. Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side-effects and interactions.
Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care.
Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that promote healthy lifestyles and apply principles of self-care.
Assess, identify and refer patients presenting with mental health needs in accordance with the NSF for Mental Health.
Evaluate the outcomes of interventions.
Prioritise and co-ordinate the multiple health care needs of the patient, co-ordinating and facilitating timely referrals to other team members within acute and primary care settings.
Facilitate the integration of patient goals for health and social care into care plans and plan for future health needs.
Advocate high quality care for people, act as a champion for people by representing and supporting the persons interests at team meetings, during hospital care, home care and when interfacing with statutory and non-statutory service providers.
Empower patients and their families through appropriate support and education.
Collect, collate, evaluate and report clinical information, maintain accurate patient records related to assessment and care planning.
Develop clinical protocols and guidelines within own area of practice to ensure quality of care at all times.
Review medication and act as a resource to other colleagues for medication advice and support. Discuss side effects and where appropriate prescribe within own formulary and competencies relevant medication and liaise with pharmacy and medical staff.
To regularly evaluate practice to ensure continuous improvement.
Work across professional boundaries providing expert clinical knowledge whilst developing new and transferable skills.
To support best practice end of life planning (last twelve months) including advance care planning for patients identified according to best practice end of life care.
To work with patients and carers to develop care plans for frail patients which encourage self-care and reduce avoidable hospital admissions.
Initiate and contribute to the audit processes as required by the organisations.
Responsible for ensuring own equipment fit for purpose and, calibration is up to date.
Work within the Advanced Practice Competency framework as agreed by the PCN board to ensure a predetermined level of practice is achieved. They will be required to work with their clinical supervisor to produce a portfolio of skills knowledge and extended practice as outlined which will be reviewed annually during the appraisal process.
Recognise and work within own competence and appropriate professional code of conduct as regulated such as NMC and HCPC.
Prioritise, organise and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality.
GENERIC RESPONSIBILITIES
All North Halifax PCN staff have a duty to conform to the following:
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I)
- A good attitude and positive action towards ED&I create an environment where all individuals are able to achieve their full potential. Creating such an environment is important for three reasons: it improves operational effectiveness, it is morally the right thing to do, and it is required by law.
- Patients and their families have the right to be treated fairly and to be routinely involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.
- Staff have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression. Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued, and equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that they treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.
Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)
- This PCN is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities for staff to maintain their health, well-being and safety. You have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for you, your team and others, and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. All personnel are to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Environmental Protection Act 1990, Environment Act 1995, Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999 and other statutory legislation.
Confidentiality
- This PCN is committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect that all staff will respect their privacy and maintain confidentiality at all times. It is essential, if the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained, that all staff protect patient information and provide a confidential service.
Quality & Continuous Improvement (CI)
- To preserve and improve the quality of our output, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work. The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice.
- This PCN continually strives to improve work processes which deliver healthcare with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone counts, and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.
Induction training
- On arrival at the PCN, all personnel are to complete a Network induction programme.
Service delivery
- Staff working for North Halifax PCN must adhere to the information contained within Network policies and regional directives, ensuring that protocols are adhered to at all times. Staff will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding policy and procedure.
Security
- The security of the PCN is the responsibility of all personnel. Staff must ensure they remain vigilant at all times and report any suspicious activity immediately to their line manager. Under no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks with anyone and they are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured.
Professional conduct
- All North Halifax PCN staff are required to dress appropriately for their role.