Advanced Clinical Practioner

The ACP areas of responsibility include:

• Providing same-day urgent response to housebound patients.
• Collaborating with the clinical team to ensure care home residents receive coordinated medical care, including proactive care planning and consistent support from a multidisciplinary team.
• Participating in multi-disciplinary team meetings.
• Recognising opportunities for anticipatory care of suitable patients through treatment plans.
• Working with registered practices to ensure seamless care.
• Leading and coordinating across organisations.
• Delivering high-quality, methodical, and well-informed patient diagnoses and care plans.
• Developing expertise within the community to improve the lives and care of the elderly.
• Promoting the use of supportive, non-statutory services to support self-care and social prescribing agendas.
• Maximising the quality of care in patients' care homes to reduce the need for hospital admissions.

This job description is an outline of the tasks, responsibilities and outcomes required of the role. The job holder will carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required by the Clinical Lead.

Key areas of responsibility

Patient Care

• Provides expert care and advice to housebound patients presenting with a diverse range of medical conditions.
• Undertakes first line comprehensive clinical assessment of patients, including those with complex presentations, employing an extended scope of practice beyond own profession including advanced clinical assessment skills, referral and interpretation of investigations and independent prescribing.
• Requests, reviews and interprets diagnostic investigations within the context of other available information utilising a systematic process of clinical reasoning to formulate a differential diagnosis.
• Develops and records a treatment plan consistent with the outcome of assessment and the most likely diagnosis.
• Involves patients, families and carers in the identification of patient-centred concerns and priorities about health and wellbeing and negotiates approaches available to prevent deterioration or promote comfort and wellbeing.
• Demonstrates empathy and compassion when communicating sensitive information and advice to patients, carers and relatives.
• Refers to other practitioners and agencies when necessary.
• Evaluates the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions and modifies the management plan accordingly.
• Maintains a visible clinical profile, having both advisory and clinical input into the medical management of patients presenting to the service.
• Advises health and social care teams with regard to medical management plans taking into account all aspects of clinical governance to improve the outcomes of patient care.
• Assumes a lead role in the safe and effective transfer of care for more complex cases.
• Demonstrates a high degree of autonomy, analytical skills, competency and multidisciplinary knowledge in caring for the older person.
• Assesses capacity, gains valid informed consent and works within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.
• Provides guidance to the clinical team with regard to therapeutic interventions, advance care planning and best interest decision-making for patients who lack mental capacity to make informed choices about their care.
• Recognises deteriorating patients, implements early interventions and escalates care where appropriate.
• Empowers patients to manage their long-term conditions as independently as possible.
• Provides verbal and written advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers and other professionals, to promote understanding and to ensure a consistent approach to patient care.
• Applies expert knowledge in palliative care to symptom control, recognition of dying and advance care planning.
• Demonstrates analytical thinking, decision making, professionalism and leadership to ensure a high quality patient experience within a multi-professional arena.
• Facilitates the integration of contemporary research and best practice through advanced clinical reasoning and decision making and the implementation of evidence-based protocols of care and clinical pathways.
• Maintains accurate and legible patient notes in accordance with the memorandum of understanding and professional guidance.

Strategy and Service Development

• Shares and contributes expertise locally and nationally.
• Facilitates and promotes a learning culture that encourages others to develop their full potential.
• Communicates, motivates and inspires others to deliver excellent standards of care.
• Acts as an acknowledged source of expertise to assist with the development of service delivery models and clinical guidelines and to promote their application throughout the organisation.
• Challenges restrictive cultures and champions new ways of working to deliver enhanced patient focused care and improved productivity amongst the workforce.
• Works closely with medical, social care and therapy colleagues to deliver fully integrated team led care.
• Contributes to the development of Advanced Clinical Practice across organisations.
• Encourages other healthcare professionals to disseminate good practice.
• Supports the development of a learning organisation by identifying, challenging and reporting poor performance and alerting managers to resource issues which may affect patient safety.
• Actively contributes to appropriate service developments and quality improvements.

Training, Education and Staff Development

• Participates in the development of a research portfolio and clinical audit programme in relation to care of the elderly.
• Disseminates research findings within clinical teams and identifies strategies for implementation in practice.
• Assumes responsibility for own continuing professional development in relation to role and contributes to the continuing professional development of other healthcare professionals.
• Makes effective use of learning opportunities whilst contributing to developing the workplace as a learning environment.
• Undertakes annual mandatory training updates and other relevant courses in line with PCN policy.
• Acts as a resource for the clinical team.

Practice and Service Development

• Makes recommendations for and leads change.
• Shapes services for older people in accordance with local and national policies and drivers.
• Monitors and challenges risk in relation to their own practice and that of colleagues.
• Acts as a champion and advocate for the care of the frail older person.

Financial Resources/Management

• Manages available resources efficiently.
• Prescribes and manages medications in accordance with local prescribing guidelines and prescribing budget.
• Advises budget holders on value for money purchasing of equipment required in this area of clinical practice.

Information Resources/Information Systems

• Analyses and interprets highly complex information gained during clinical examination and history taking to diagnose an individual's problem or illness and to decide on an appropriate course of action or treatment.
• Identifies evidence based interventions to meet an individual's complex health needs within the context of the overall management plan.
• Undertakes critical analysis of contemporary research studies and incorporates valid research findings into practice.
• Identifies areas which require further research or audit and instigates collaborative research/audit projects.
• Evaluates the quality of own work and current practices through the use of evidence based practice projects, audit and outcome measures and supports others in doing so.
• Develops benchmarks for best practice, identifies quality outcome measures and contributes to audit programmes.
• Identifies and agrees the minimum data set to be collected by self and others within the team and implements agreed methods of data collection.
• Analyses the information obtained using appropriate methods and reports the findings in a timely manner.
• Supports the team in collating and analysing the information obtained in relation to their area of responsibility and encourages timely reports of the data and information obtained.
• Maintains contemporary knowledge of clinical guidelines relevant to practice and acts consistently with associated quality standards.

Autonomy/Scope within Role

• Assumes clinical accountability for the delivery of patient care.
• Practices competently and autonomously without direct supervision in accordance with professional code of practice and local policies and procedures.
• Acknowledges limitations in own professional competence and only undertakes practice and accepts responsibilities for those activities for which competence can be assured.
• Exercises professional judgement and expertise to create precedents and deal with ambiguous or novel problems.
• Applies best practice policy guidelines where appropriate and in the absence of specific guidance.