Band 8a Advanced Clinical Practitioner Single Point of Access

Job overview

The Urgent Community Response (UCR) team is a multi-disciplinary team that provides a two-hour urgent response to patients in their own home that are experiencing a crisis. The UCR team works closely with the Care Co-ordination centre and the Virtual Wards to avoid unnecessary hospital admission.

The post holder will provide advanced clinical expertise and leadership to the Urgent Community Response team, Care Coordination Centre (CCC), Virtual Wards, Early Intervention Model and Community Nursing Teams.  They will be required to support new ways of working that emphasises a more efficient and patient focused service, and will ensure the safe treatment, referral and discharge of patients with undifferentiated and undiagnosed presentations.

The ACP will autonomously provide highly specialised, evidence-based care within the community as part of the integrated health and social care community team and will demonstrate advanced clinical knowledge and skills in assessment, management and treatment across a range of acute and chronic presentations.

The ACP will work collaboratively with other health and social care professionals across primary and secondary care to ensure a high-quality accessible service. This will include working across service interfaces, such as UCR, CCC and Virtual Ward to meet the needs of patients across the community setting.

Main duties of the job

• Work in accordance with Nursing and Midwifery Council/Allied Health Professional (AHP) Code of Professional Conduct.  The post holder will be responsible for providing advanced clinical care and expertise in care delivery including judgement, discretion and decision making to patients as per individual scope of practice and through the advanced clinical competency framework.
• Provide clinical leadership and expertise (in both telephone triage and managing referrals through the Care Co-ordination Centre).
• Receive and triage referrals via a variety of sources, including direct patient referral.
• Participate and lead team safety huddles, patient reviews and multidisciplinary team meetings.
• Act as a first contact, exercising a high degree of professional autonomy and critical judgment in providing expert advanced clinical assessment, individualised patient care, examination, investigation/diagnostic procedures and diagnosis of patients with undiagnosed and undifferentiated needs.

Appropriately treat patients, resulting in the safe management and appropriate onward referral or discharge of patients at the end of the care episode Make direct referrals as appropriate for medical assessment and diagnostic procedures within agreed pathways.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Participate in the identification of service development priorities.
• Ensure the clinical practice is based on agree standards based upon best practice guidelines reflecting current research.
• Identify training needs associated with practice changes/developments.
• Leads specific areas of practice developments in accordance with local and national policies and strategies to improve patient care.

To undertake other duties commensurate with this grade of post in agreement with the relevant line manager.

To minimise the Trust’s environmental impact wherever possible, including recycling, switching off lights, computers, monitors and equipment when not in use. Helping to reduce paper waste by minimising printing/copying and reducing water usage, reporting faults and heating/cooling concerns promptly and minimising travel. Where the role includes the ordering and use of supplies or equipment the post holder will consider the environmental impact of purchases.

Responsible for ensuring identified training and development is undertaken appropriate to the postholder’s role.

Key Relationships

To establish effective working relation with the following:

• Staff within the professional group
• Clinical Team Leaders
• Service Managers
• Heads of Service/General Managers
• Clinical and Divisional Directors
• GP’s
• Local Authority partners
• Divisional Director of Nursing and Therapies
• Care Home Managers
• Social Care