On International Advanced Practice week, I am delighted to share some reflections as chair of the Acute Hospitals Advanced Practice Forum.
The Advanced Practitioner role is a unique integration of professional clinical knowledge and skills, masters’ level education, giving practitioners the ability to manage the complete clinical care of their patients, not focusing on any sole condition. This has facilitated new ways of working and fostered greater collaboration across professions.
Advanced Practice roles are valued, recognised and developed as an integral part of the Nursing, Midwifery, Allied Health Professional and Pharmacy workforce across the specialist and generalist continuum to meet service need. Central to this role is the requirement to meet workforce development and to add value to the health outcomes of the people of Lanarkshire across a wide transformational change agenda in health care. This was further endorsed by the Chief Nursing Officer and Scottish Nurse Directors through the publication of Transforming Nursing roles.
The advancing practice role is not new to Lanarkshire, with existing posts in critical care and neonatology. Within all emergency care areas there has been a 14 year development programme of advancing practice, with over 400 practitioners educated through an academic and clinical curriculum, developed and delivered by senior NHS Lanarkshire clinicians. This programme provides practitioners with the platform to develop careers in advancing practice. Managing the 70% of minor injury attendances at emergency departments, advanced practitioners are also independently managing a proportion of the emergency admission workload in medicine, surgery and downstream care of patients in orthopaedics and hospital at home services. These developments have become critical to supporting the delivery of safe, person-centred and effective care.
There are many exciting opportunities ahead for practitioners to advance their knowledge and skills beyond their core training, to work as leaders of excellence in care, responding to what matters to patients, families and carers.
Gillian McAuley
Chief Nurse
November 2018
