Qualified Advanced Clinical Practitioner for Older People and Frailty

Qualified Advanced Clinical Practitioner for Older People and Frailty

Main area Advanced Clinical Practice (Older People and Frailty) Grade NHS AfC Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (5 days per week, Monday-Friday) Job ref 220-WHT-3403Employer Whittington Health NHS TrustEmployer type NHSSite Whittington HealthTown LondonSalary £64,156 - £71,148 per annum including HCASSalary period YearlyClosing 06/10/2025 23:59Job overview

We have an exceptional opportunity for an innovative and inspirational leader to join our Acute Frailty Team as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) for older people.The ACP will take a senior role within the Care of Older People (COOP) team and will be responsible for co-ordinating the flow of frail older people through the Whittington hospital.They will provide clinical leadership and be responsible for ensuring the provision of a high standard of holistic, patient centred care for frail older people as well as providing expert advice and support to professionals in elderly medicine around frailty syndromes including falls, dementia and delirium, and contributing towards service improvement in these areas. They will also support the Acute Frailty Pathway which works to avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital.The successful candidate will be able to take a lead in the comprehensive geriatric assessment of patients referred to the Frailty Team under the supervision of a consultant geriatrician and will autonomously work as part of a multidisciplinary team providing patient-centred clinical care, encompassing the skills of assessment, examination, diagnosis and treatment of patients. The post is intended to improve patient outcomes by improving timeliness and consistency of care for older patients with frailty seeking emergency care and referred to the Acute Frailty Pathway, promoting same day discharge and community management of older patients with frailty.Main duties of the job

Review patients screened as frail in the Emergency Department, Ambulatory care and the Acute Admissions wards, according to Frailty Pathway criteria.In conjunction with the Consultant Geriatrician/Frailty MDT provide expert assessment of frail elderly patients on admission to determine the most appropriate pathway of care to meet the patient’s needs and direct patients accordingly.Please see the Job Description and the Persons Specification for further details about the job role. If you are unable to access the PDF, the details of the job description can also be found in the ''Detailed Job Description and Main responsibilities'' section.Working for our organisation

Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will:

Work at a level of advanced clinical practice that pulls together the four ACP pillars of clinical practice, leadership and management, education, and research.Provide professional, clinical leadership in support of medical, nursing and AHP staff in the provision of services for older people. Ensuring that the Trust meets the requirements of national guidance and provides safe, compassionate care for frail, older people in accordance with local and national quality and performance targets.Undertake line management responsibilities as part of their Frailty ACP role.Lead on education to ensure that current best practice is being implemented for the benefit of frail older people and their families/carers. Including falls prevention, dementia and delirium detection, treatment and care, and supporting the Trust’s Enhanced Care training model.Act as the link between the Emergency Department (ED), Acute Admissions Unit (AAU) and the Elderly Medicine Wards to ensure excellent communication and continuity of care for older people.Assess the needs of older people with frailty admitted to The Whittington Hospital - coordinate referrals and signpost to specialist services ensuring that appropriate patients receive a comprehensive geriatric assessment.Ensure that the needs of carers/families are highlighted and that they are encouraged to be involved to the level that they wish to be.Support the role of the Trust’s Dementia Practitioner Specialist in implementing the Dementia Trust Strategy and support wards managers and their teams to develop dementia friendly environments.Support the falls prevention Trust strategy.Work in partnership with the discharge team and other specialist teams in acute, community and social services. Support the design and development of integrated pathways that facilitate safe and timely transitions of care, admission avoidance and improved outcomes of care for older people.Clinical Responsibilities

Review patients screened as frail in the Emergency Department, Ambulatory care and the Acute Admissions wards, according to our Frailty Pathway criteria. In conjunction with the Consultant Geriatrician/Frailty MDT provide expert assessment of frail elderly patients on admission to determine the most appropriate pathway of care to meet the patient’s needs and direct patients accordingly.Liaise closely with other members of the multidisciplinary team including community colleagues and within the hospital.Ensure good communication between members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure safe and timely hospital discharge of identified patients as well as appropriate admission to hospital.Act as patient and carer advocate.Communicate with patients, carers and relatives - involve them in care planning and resolve concerns.Provide patients and carers with individual details about their condition and management.Demonstrate ability to communicate complex and sensitive information through good communication skills even when there are significant barriers to communication.Communicate information to patients and carers in an understandable way.Assess the patients’ need for additional services and refer as necessary.Gain valid informed consent to intervention and treatment.Provide spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to patients, carers, relatives and other health professionals to promote long term condition management and ensure a consistent approach to patient care.Manage potentially stressful, upsetting and emotional situations in an empathetic manner, including delivering bad news, providing palliative care support and discussions about future management and resuscitation.Be able to manage their own workloadArrange/attend team/family meetings in conjunction with other relevant members of the multidisciplinary team.Act as a resource for medical doctors, nurses and allied health professionals across Whittington Health on the care of older people.Act as a leader of the multidisciplinary team and ensure patients who are discharged receive a high standard of specialist care.Initiate and implement changes in clinical practice which improve standards of care and health outcomes for patients.Work within agreed medical, nursing and trust protocols as well as develop standards of practice against which quality of care can be measured.Identify clinical issues and incidents that reduce quality of patient care and develop strategies to counter these to ensure safe and effective care.Identify and resolve patient related or service problems and prioritise conflicting needs.Education

Identify education needs in relation to care of older people. Develop a training strategy to increase understanding amongst staff of the needs of older people. Facilitate the development of knowledge and skills in staff, recognising and developing aspiring leaders within older people, frail elderly and dementia care services.Critically appraise evidence-based literature and use this knowledge to lead on education programmes within the hospital and the community.Employ a range of methods in education and training appropriate to the topic, participants, facilities available and event. Prepare and provide learning materials.Encourage and support research-based practice linking this to relevant service development.Devise and provide written information for patients and carers to enhance their understanding.Be responsible for identifying own training and development needs.Participate in appraisal using reflective practice.Continue own professional development through the pursuit of relevant professional and academic study.Leadership, Management and Service improvement

Champion and lead the organisation’s commitment to provide a service for frail older people that is patient centred, flexible, comprehensive and clearly focussed on timely diagnosis, appropriate interventions and multidisciplinary discharge planning.Contribute to the development of a strategic plan for the frailty service and other service development strategies with specific reference to the nursing contribution to service improvement objectives.Support the Trust’s Dementia Specialist Practitioner to lead, support and sustain the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy across the Trust.Provide a visible, accessible presence throughout the Trust, demonstrating clinical leadership and acting as a credible role model. Act as a resource for advice, guidance, support and decision making.Provide leadership and support to enable a multidisciplinary approach to delivering improvements in patient safety for older people.Represent the Acute Frailty Team at the Trust Dementia Strategy Group.Motivate and empower staff to perform their role to ensure a confident, competent, questioning and enthusiastic workforce. Inspire others by action and example, challenging traditional practices and encouraging innovative problem solving by staff.Lead and oversee the development of wards specialising in the provision of care to the frail elderly and dementia care.Promote a culture where change is embraced and there is constant challenge to existing services in order to achieve and sustain improving standards of care and practice in relation to older people.Monitor trends in incidents and promote service improvements that are responsive to patient feedback.Ensure that clinical practice has patients, their families and carers at its centre, is evidence-based and supports patients to make informed decisions regarding their pathway of care. Engage with patients, families and carers in order to establish their views on services, promoting patient and public involvement in the evaluation and improvement of services.Initiate projects that increase the profile of the COOP service and team members.Represent the Trust on committees relevant to the care of older people nationally and locally.Flexibly plan and organise own time to meet the demand of the service.Be involved in the development of relevant care guidelines.Undertake line management responsibilities as requiredResearch and Audit

Ensure audit programmes are consistent with the service objectives.Undertake audit as required to support service development.Be proactive in ongoing audit in order to assess the effectiveness of the service.Participate in and critically evaluate research finding and to disseminate them appropriately.Person specification

Primary professional registration as a nurse, AHP or pharmacistEvidence of continued professional developmentEducated to degree levelMSc Advanced Clinical PracticeTeaching qualificationSkills and abilities

Previous experience in working in care of older peopleExperience of working independentlyTeaching skillsComputer LiterateAbility to work as part of a teamIdentify new ways of working to benefit the service and the patient experienceExpert practitioner in Elderly MedicineKnowledge and experience

Significant previous band 7 experience or aboveClinical Audit and presentation skillsAware of national agendaDisplays leadership skillsInvolvement in Quality ImprovementUnderstands polypharmacy in relation to Elderly MedicineRecent Evidence Based Best Practice in relation to Elderly MedicineFlexible approach to workArticulatePersonableReliableAbility to lead and motivate othersPositive approach to changeAble to prioritise, organise and coordinate the work of self and othersSAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTSTo comply with the Trust’s

Safeguarding Children and Adults policies , procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This will require you to:Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.Ensure you are familiar and comply with theLondon Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.Participate in required training and supervision.Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conductWhittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.Your application form

–Provide only business email address for your referees – we are unable to request references from yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail accounts.Make sure you to include all evidence of where you meet the essential requirement on the jobs description as this forms the base of our shortlisting criteria.Our processes

–Closing dates are given as a guide; we are within our right to close adverts early so please ensure you submit your application as soon as possible to avoid delay.If you do not hear from us up to 3 weeks after the closing date of the job unfortunately this means you have not been successfully shortlisted for interview. If you require feedback on your application please contact the appointing manager detailed in the body of the advert.Please check your emails regularly as all correspondence from us will be via trac.systems – occasionally these emails will go into your Junk folder.Employment at Whittington Health is offered subject to successful completion of a 6 month probationary period for all staff with the exception of GMC Registered Doctors.Other important information

–Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.Applications are welcome from people wishing to job share or work flexible patterns. We are committed to equal opportunities.In submitting an application form, you authorise WhittingtonHealth NHS Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process should you be appointed to the post.If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks your identity and right to work documentation will be verified remotely using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a “selfie” using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.ukPlease note that during the recruitment process your Identity Documentation (i.e. passport, driving licence, visa, etc.) will be scanned using a device which recognises UV, Infrared and Machine Readable Zone security features of the documents providedThe Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.We would welcome applications from individuals who are from underrepresented groups in the organisationEmployer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.Name Ben Flavell Job title Lead ACP EIM Email address benjamin.flavell@nhs.netIf you have problems applying, contact

Address WHTTelephone If you have any queries, please contact NLPSS Recruitment Helpdesk tel. 020 3758 ..... full job details .....