Advancing Practice

Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) refers to a level of healthcare practice where professionals, often nurses, physiotherapists, or allied health practitioners, work autonomously or collaboratively in more complex, specialised roles.

Advanced Clinical Practice often go beyond the traditional scope of care, combining advanced clinical skills with leadership, decision-making, and management abilities.

 

Key features of ACP include:

Clinical Expertise: ACP professionals possess a deep understanding of their specific clinical area and apply this knowledge to assess, diagnose, and manage patient care.

Autonomy: They can make high-level decisions regarding patient treatment and interventions, often without direct supervision.

Leadership and Education: ACPs play an integral role in mentoring, teaching, and leading other healthcare staff, contributing to the development of best practices within their teams.

Research and Evidence-Based Practice: They engage in research to enhance clinical practice, ensuring that patient care is rooted in the latest evidence and guidelines.

 

 

Specialised Roles: ACPs may work in fields such as acute care, chronic disease management, or specific specialties like orthopedics, cardiology, or pediatrics.

 

 

 

The Primary Care workforce is developing at a fast rate and we are able to support Primary Care employers with levy funding for the ACP MSc Apprenticeship pathway. 

The closing dates for the ACP MSc Apprenticeship vary for different Universities, for further information please check on their websites.

Please find detailed information about the ACP MSc Apprenticeship in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Apprenticeship Information Sheet.

This is the Memo of Understanding (MOU) with the terms and conditions of the funding for the 2024/25 funded places.

Midlands Advanced Practice Primary and Urgent Care Educational Forum 2024

To see upcoming dates and booking links press HERE

The Derbyshire Advanced Clinical Practitioner’s 3 Year Strategy (2021-2024) created by members of the Derbyshire Collaborative Advanced Clinical Practice Group is available by following this link

Our vision is to create confident, capable and adaptable Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs) who are able and willing to contribute to system wide delivery of safe effective care for patients, their relatives and carers.

 

Health Education England has established the Centre for Advancing Practice to oversee the workforce transformation of advanced level practice, by establishing and monitoring standards for education and training, accrediting advanced level programmes, supporting and recognising educational and training equivalence, and growing and embedding the advanced and consultant practice workforce.

The Centre will deliver this through key functions:

  • Programme accreditation
  • Recognition of education and training equivalence
  • HEE credentials
  • Workforce solutions

Further information regarding can be found on the link below:

NHS England Regional Faculties of Advancing Practice 

 

Advancing Practice – Midlands – Advanced Practice

Each NHSE Region has a Faculty for Advancing Practice. The Midlands Faculty Lead is Dr Julian Barratt. You can Sign up to their stakeholder database if you would like to receive updates from the Faculty and for any other enquiries or to unsubscribe from the mailing list, please email them at england.apfac.midlands@nhs.net

Advancing Practice

In 2017 Health Education England (HEE) produced the HEE Multi Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England.

This framework provides a clear definition and specifies the capabilities for clinicians using the 'advanced' title. This framework supports a level of practice and as such encompasses both those working in 'advanced specialist' and 'advanced generalist' roles.  Clinicians who use the term ‘advanced’ in their title need to have Masters (MSc) level education and be able to evidence capability across the four pillars of advanced practice.

  • Clinical Practice
  • Leadership and Management
  • Education
  • Research

This requires that health and care professionals working at the level of advanced clinical practice will exercise autonomy and decision making in a context of complexity, uncertainty, and varying levels of risk, holding accountability for decisions made. Each clinician needs to work within their scope of competency.

Whilst the HEE framework defines advanced clinical practice as a level of practice, some areas of the country use the term Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) as a role. This is the case in parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and was driven by workforce needs.

If you require any further help/assistance, please contact ddlmc.thehubplus@nhs.net