Frailty Nurse Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP)

Job summary

Frailty Nurse Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP)

Location: The Grove Surgery, Christchurch working across South Coast Medical Group PCN Hours: Full Time Salary: Dependent on skills and experience Contract: Permanent

About South Coast Medical Group

South Coast Medical Group is an award-winning primary care organisation providing high-quality healthcare services to patients across Bournemouth, Christchurch and the surrounding areas.

We are a forward-thinking and innovative organisation, committed to delivering excellent patient care through collaborative working across our practices and Primary Care Network.

Our multidisciplinary teams work together to provide accessible, proactive and patient-centred care, while continually developing and improving the services we offer.

We are proud of our supportive working environment and our commitment to our SCMG values:

Seek solutions

Care and be compassionate

Mean what you say

Grow relationships

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Frailty Nurse Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) to join our established PCN Frailty Team on a full-time basis. Based primarily at The Grove Surgery in Christchurch, you will work across the South Coast Medical Group PCN, providing proactive, high-quality care to our frail and predominantly housebound patient population.

This is an autonomous advanced clinical role, combining specialist frailty care with advanced assessment, diagnostic, prescribing and clinical decision-making skills.

Main duties of the job

• Undertaking comprehensive, person-centred and holistic frailty assessments, predominantly within patients' own homes.
• Independently assessing patients and developing appropriate treatment and management plans within your scope of practice.
• Proactively managing frail patients with complex needs long-term conditions, including diabetes, COPD, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
• Undertaking comprehensive care planning, including advance care planning and Emergency Health Care Planning.
• Prescribing and reviewing medication as an Independent Non-Medical Prescriber.
• Requesting and interpreting appropriate investigations and acting on results.
• Recognising deterioration or changes in a patient's health and taking appropriate clinical action.
• Supporting proactive and early case management to help prevent avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions.
• Supporting patients and carers with health promotion, prevention of ill health and self-management.
• Communicating effectively with patients, families and carers, including when discussing complex or sensitive information.
• Maintaining clear, concise and accurate clinical documentation.
• Working closely with the wider multidisciplinary team to ensure coordinated and effective patient care.
• Providing clinical leadership, support and guidance to colleagues within the Frailty Team.
• Contributing to audit, quality improvement, service development and evidence-based practice.

About us

About South Coast Medical Group

South Coast Medical Group is an award-winning primary care organisation providing high-quality healthcare services to patients across Bournemouth, Christchurch and the surrounding areas.

We are a forward-thinking and innovative organisation, committed to delivering excellent patient care through collaborative working across our practices and Primary Care Network.

Our multidisciplinary teams work together to provide accessible, proactive and patient-centred care, while continually developing and improving the services we offer.

We are proud of our supportive working environment and our commitment to our SCMG values:

Seek solutions Care and be compassionate Mean what you say Grow relationships

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

The role will include:

• Undertaking comprehensive, person-centred and holistic frailty assessments, predominantly within patients' own homes.
• Independently assessing patients and developing appropriate treatment and management plans within your scope of practice.
• Proactively managing frail patients with complex needs and long-term conditions, including diabetes, COPD, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
• Undertaking comprehensive care planning, including advance care planning and Emergency Health Care Planning.
• Prescribing and reviewing medication as an Independent Non-Medical Prescriber.
• Requesting and interpreting appropriate investigations and acting on results.
• Recognising deterioration or changes in a patient's health and taking appropriate clinical action.
• Supporting proactive and early case management to help prevent avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions.
• Referring and signposting patients appropriately across primary, community and secondary care services.
• Supporting patients and carers with health promotion, prevention of ill health and self-management.
• Communicating effectively with patients, families and carers, including when discussing complex or sensitive information.
• Maintaining clear, concise and accurate clinical documentation.
• Working closely with the wider multidisciplinary team to ensure coordinated and effective patient care.
• Providing clinical leadership, support and guidance to colleagues within the Frailty Team.
• Contributing to audit, quality improvement, service development and evidence-based practice.

These responsibilities bring together the community frailty and proactive case-management elements of the Frailty Nurse JD with the autonomous assessment, diagnosis, prescribing and advanced decision-making responsibilities of the ACP role.

Person specification

Experience

Essential

• About You
• We are looking for an experienced, compassionate and motivated clinician who has a genuine interest in frailty and supporting patients with complex healthcare needs.
• The successful candidate will ideally have:
• Current NMC registration.
• An Advanced Clinical Practitioner qualification at Master's level or equivalent.
• An Independent Non-Medical Prescribing qualification.
• Advanced clinical assessment and diagnostic skills.
• Experience of managing patients with complex needs and/or long-term conditions.
• Experience or a strong understanding of frailty, older people's care and the needs of housebound patients.
• Excellent clinical judgement and decision-making skills.
• The confidence and competence to work autonomously within professional boundaries.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• The ability to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team.
• A commitment to evidence-based practice, clinical governance and continued professional development.
• The ability to effectively manage and prioritise your own workload.
• The ability to travel to patients' homes and other SCMG sites as required.
• The existing ACP JD requires the post holder to practise across the Four Pillars of Advanced Practice Clinical, Education, Leadership and Research and to work autonomously while recognising the limits of their own scope of practice.