Physician Associate

Job responsibilities

JOB PURPOSE:

Under the supervision of a GP, provide care for the presenting patient including focused history taking, clinical assessment, diagnoses, treatment and evaluation of care.

Work collaboratively with the healthcare team within the Primary Care Network (PCN) and its member practices to meet the needs of the patients, supporting delivery of appropriate care.

Provide a holistic and clinical services, with the support and supervision of experienced GPs, implementing agreed management plans and following approved protocols

PRIMARY DUTIES AND AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITIES

Provide first point of contact care for patients presenting with undifferentiated, undiagnosed problems by utilising history-taking, physical examinations and clinical decision-making skills to establish a working diagnosis and management plan in partnership with the patient (and their carers where applicable)

Support the management of patients conditions through offering specialised clinics following appropriate training including (but not limited to) family planning, baby checks, COPD, asthma, diabetes, and anticoagulation

Provide health/disease promotion and prevention advice, alongside analysing and actioning diagnostic test results

Develop integrated patient-centred care through appropriate wording with the wider primary care multi-disciplinary team and social care networks

Utilise clinical guidelines and promote evidence-based practice and partake in clinical audits, significant event reviews and other research and analysis tasks

Participate in duty rotas; undertaking face-to-face, telephone, and online consultations for emergency or routine problems as determined by the PCN, including management of patients with long-term conditions

Undertake home visits when required

Manage a clinical caseload and deal with presenting patients needs in a primary care setting

Provide clinical leadership where appropriate within the practice and support other members of the team to develop and maintain clinical skills appropriate to your role and expertise

Refer patients directly to other services or agencies using appropriate referral pathways

Ensure safe handover of care within and outside the practice as appropriate

Work directly with members of the practice primary health care team and support integrated patient centred care through appropriate working with wider primary care / social care networks

Identify community health needs and participate in the development of patient/family-centred strategies to address them

Contribute to the practice quality targets to consistently achieve high standards of safe, evidence-based, cost-effective patient care and service delivery

ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES

Other duties and responsibilities to be undertaken may include any or all the items in the following list:

Taking messages and passing on information as appropriate

Computer data entry/data allocation and collation, processing and recording information in accordance with Network procedures

Initiating contact with and responding to requests from patients, other team members and associated healthcare professionals and providers

Helping to keep all areas tidy and free from obstructions and clutter

Helping to maintain a positive, patient focused culture

Helping to maintain a positive, supportive culture across the whole of the PCN team any other duties commensurate with this position

Duties will vary from time to time under the direction of the employer and the PCN dependent on current and evolving workload and staffing levels.

PATIENT SERVICES DEVELOPMENT

Provide therapeutic review services to patients, domiciliary visits and in residential and nursing homes, and to deliver care plans that maximise and improve the quality of patient care

Present at patient group meetings or other appropriate events to give advice on the appropriate use of therapy

Help plan, develop, and support the introduction of new working processes.

PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

Participate in any training programme implemented by the Network as part of this employment

Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development

Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work

Take the UK PA National Re-Certification Exam every six years - required for Physician Associates AND maintain your professional registration working within the latest Code of Professional Conduct (CIPD)

Undertake statutory and mandatory training as required by the employer

QUALITY:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice/PCN, and will:

Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk

Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision

Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance

Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs

Effectively manage own time, workload and resources

CONTRIBUTION TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SERVICES:

The post-holder will

Apply policies, standards and guidance

Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work

Contribute to wider policies such as GP prescribing policies, the review and development of existing project information management systems and contribute to the development of an integrated approach to project management

Participate in audit where appropriate

Skills and Competencies

Essential

• Ability to work well with colleagues and within a team
• Ability to liaise effectively with the wider healthcare community
• Awareness of local referral pathways
• Ability to organise and prioritise workload effectively
• Ability to exercise sound judgements when faced with conflicting pressures
• Ability to take an active role in a working group
• Sound IT knowledge including use of clinical systems
• Experience of conducting clinical audit
• Offering patient care in line with relevant guidance

Desirable

• An awareness of current developments and initiatives in primary care
• To assist in the development of the role of Physician Associate within the practice and the wider PCN
• An awareness of local commissioning objectives that impact upon primary care and the services delivered
• Ability to motivate and develop colleagues

Qualifications

Essential

• Graduation from a recognised/accredited Physician Associate higher education institution
• Certification of passing the PA National Examination
• Member of the Faculty of Physician Associates at the RCP, including registration on the PA Managed Voluntary Register

Desirable

• MSc Degree in Physician Associate Studies
• BA/BSc degree prior to undertaking PA program

Attributes and Behaviours

Essential

• Disposition and AttitudesDemonstrable ability to show kindness and compassion
• Demonstrate ability to reflect and learn from situations
• Identifies difficulties as challenges and works with others to identify solutions
• Demonstrates co-operative team working and awareness of the roles of other professionals
• Able to work on own initiative, organising and prioritising own workload to set deadlines
• Ability to adapt and change approach as circumstance dictates
• Persistence and ability to keep going in difficult situations and with complex and uncertain pieces of work
• Understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships
• An ability to maintain confidentiality and trust
• Can do attitude, able to maintain positivity in the face of adversity
• Good time keeping
• Flexible approach to work
• Ability to work flexibly across days of the week

Experience

Essential

• Experienced or new Physician Associate graduate with associated clinical experience
• Experience of working within a primary care environment, which could include on placement at University.

Desirable

• Experience of preventative medicine and management of patients with long term conditions and complex needs
• Experience of seeing, assessing, and treating acutely unwell people presenting in primary care

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).