My Journey into becoming a Trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioner

(ACP)

Darran MillerHarrogate District Hospital

Aims

• What is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner?

• What positives do the ACP roles bring to an NHS setting?

• What led me to apply for and become successful in gaining this role?

• Why physiotherapists should be applying for these roles?

What is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner?

(ACP)

A type of A&E Unicorn – ‘these unique mythical creaturesthat absorb medical information’

In all seriousness….

• HIGHLY SKILLED health care professionals

• Well established core competencies

• Essentially we are being trained to become a hybrid between an AHP and a doctor

What positives do the ACP roles bring to an NHS setting?

• ↑ Patient & staff satisfaction

• ↓ Length of stay

• ↑ Patient care

• ↓ Costs

• ↑ Efficiency of services – waiting times

(Shapiro 2009, Neville and Swift 2012, Millar et al 2009, Skills for Health 2012)

Why me?

• Qualified in 2004 and reached a band 6 at 18/12

• Completed junior rotations - MSK physio

• London to the North – career stagnated

• Despite ambition the job opportunities weren’t available and I hit my glass ceiling early on

Ambition & Drive

• Avid sports fan

• Exciting and dynamic atmosphere

• Keep progressing

• External courses

What made me want to apply?

• Drew upon parallels with my existing skill set• excellent clinical reasoning skills• highly skilled

• Drew upon my love of developing and learning

• A&E exciting environment

What does the training post involve?

What the training post involves?

• 2 years on the ground, hands on and an MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice

• Completing a portfolio (Clinical Supervision Framework)

• Unpredictable environment

• I am supernumerary

Where will the role lead me?• Independent ACP in A&E

• Assessing, diagnosing and managing patients appropriately

• Managing acute ill patient

• Independent prescriber

• Multitude of clinical skills

• MSc

• 8a post + future opportunities…

Challenges• Heavy workload

• Initially felt a bit useless

• Initial resistance from drs

• Nurses who already have a solid foundation of clinical skills e.g. ECG’s, ABG taking etc..

• Remember old rotational skills

• Having to identify courses that I needed to undertake

• Time managment

Why you should apply as an AHP

• So few ACPs are AHPs • 2 AHP out of 7 HDFT• 1 AHP out of ? 12York

• 8% applicants at HDFT AHP

• 3% of AHP’s applicants considered

• You ALL have the skill set – DO NOT hesitate to apply

Coming to a place near you….

• HDFT

– Community

– New roles…?

• Other organisations

Conclusion

‘You have got to get out of the boat if you want to get

wet’

Contacts

darran.miller@hdft.nhs.uk

Project lead:

sharon.burrows@hdft.nhs.uk01423553410