The Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) in UK healthcare: Dichotomies in a new ‘multi-professional’ profession

Timmons, Stephen; Mann, Claire; Evans, Catrin; Pearce, Ruth; Overton, Charlotte; Hinsliff-Smith, Kathryn

doi:10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100211

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Research struggled to keep up with the growing number of roles designed as solutions to address shortages in (often) medical workforce, with inconsistent definitions and scopes of practice in different associate and advanced practitioner roles 12 as well as support workers, and a tendency to rush to implement and scale up such new roles without good evaluations. Evidence on impact and degree of substitution remained mixed and often difficult to interpret 13 .…”

Section: What Did We Learn and Where Are The Gaps?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing the future research agenda for the health and social care workforce in the United Kingdom: Findings from a national forum for policymakers and researchers

Lamont,

Chatfield,

Walshe

2024

Health Planning & Management

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There is a gap between healthcare workforce research and decision‐making in policy and practice. This matters more than ever given the urgent staffing crisis. As a national research network, we held the first ever United Kingdom (UK) forum on healthcare workforce evidence in March 2023. This paper summarises outputs of the event including an emerging UK healthcare workforce agenda and actions to build research capacity and bridge the gap between academics and decisionmakers. The forum brought together over 80 clinical and system leaders, policymakers and regulators with workforce researchers. Fifteen sessions convened by leading experts combined knowledge exchange with deliberative dialogue over 2 days. Topics ranged from workforce analytics, forecasting, international migration to interprofessional working. In the small groups that were convened, important gaps were identified in both the existing research body and uptake of evidence already available. There had not been enough high quality evaluations of recent workforce initiatives implemented at pace, from virtual wards to e‐rostering. The pandemic had accelerated many changes in skillmix and professional roles with little learning from other countries and systems. Existing research was often small‐scale or focused on individual, rather than organisational solutions in areas such as staff wellbeing. In terms of existing research, managers were often unaware of accepted high quality evidence in areas like the relationship between registered nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes. More work is needed to engage new disciplines from labour economics and occupational health to academic human resources and to strengthen the emerging diverse community of healthcare workforce researchers.

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Section: What Did We Learn and Where Are The Gaps?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing the future research agenda for the health and social care workforce in the United Kingdom: Findings from a national forum for policymakers and researchers

Lamont,

Chatfield,

Walshe

2024

Health Planning & Management

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“…They also suggested this variation was compounded by an absence of set standards regarding the clinical background to the roles. This is, in part, being addressed by credentialing, where roles within specific clinical specialities have to meet a set of competencies designed by the relevant medical Royal College (Timmons et al, 2023). However, it is as yet unclear what the take up of such processes will be or the speciality reach of these new standards in clinical practice.…”

Section: Backg Rou N Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…) are the same, their function and career paths vary. Importantly, in ACP roles individuals also retain their base professional registration but with an emerging new professional identity (Timmons et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Designed to provide senior clinical input into patient care, and frequently associated with middle grade or senior doctor competencies, such opportunities have been championed by educational and medical bodies (Imison et al, 2016; Williams, 2017). Underpinned by a multiprofessional framework (HEE, 2017), and for some specialities credentialing, these ACP posts fill a potential gap in the medical workforce (Crouch & Brown, 2018; Timmons et al, 2023). Postholders are expected to hold a Master's degree and have leadership, education and research capabilities alongside their clinical expertise (Wallis et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scoping of advanced clinical practitioner role implementation using national job advertisements: Document analysis

Snaith

Sutton

Partington

et al. 2023

Journal of Advanced Nursing

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Aim The aim of this study is to profile the contemporary advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) role through standardized document sets. Design Documentary analysis of job descriptions (JDs), person specification and advertisements. Data Sources England based jobs advertised on NHS jobs website from 22 January to 21 April 2021. Results A toatal of 143 trainee and qualified ACP roles were identified. A wide range of sectors and specialities were represented from across all English regions. The most common roles were urgent care, emergency medicine and primary care. Most qualified roles were agenda for change band 8A, although this did vary across specialities. Many roles were restricted to a small number of professions, notably nursing, physiotherapy and paramedic. Inconsistent role titles were noted. A lack of understanding of regulation across different professions was noted. Conclusion The ACP role has become an accepted across healthcare providers in England. Implementation remains varied across specialities and organizations. Eligibility criteria may relate to professional bias. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care ACP roles are expanding but this may be at the detriment to advanced nursing posts. Inconsistency in role eligibility suggests some professional bias exists. Impact This was scoping of ACP roles across England using job advertisements. ACP roles are common across sectors and specialities but eligibility varies. The research will have impact on those looking to recruit to ACP roles as well as those refining JDs. Reporting Method No EQUATOR guideline exists for document analysis. Patient or Public Contribution No Patient or Public Contribution. The research relates to organizational human resource information only.

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“…Organizations such as the American Nurses Association (ANA) [ 20 ] and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) [ 21 ] recognize the absence of a universal definition of nursing roles. In the UK and the US, the roles of clinical nurse specialists and advanced nurse practitioners are encompassed within the scope of advanced practice nursing [ 22 ]. In contrast, in Australia, the only regulated advanced role is that of the nurse practitioner [ 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nurses’ Roles in Caring for Older People in Domiciliary Settings: A Scoping Review Protocol

Santomauro,

Bassi,

Durante

et al. 2024

Nursing Reports

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Due to global shifts in demographics and advances in chronic illness management over the past few decades, domiciliary care has become the primary setting for caring for older people. In this regard, nurses play a crucial role, promoting quality care and minimizing hospital admissions and the need for institutionalization. However, historical and geographic variation in nursing titles and the multitude of labels for different roles have been obstacles to the creation of a clear map outlining specific nursing roles in home care for older people. The aim of this scoping review is to map the evidence on the different nurses’ roles in caring for older people in domiciliary settings. This review will include primary, secondary, and gray literature on nurses’ roles in domiciliary settings for older people, sourced through comprehensive searches of various databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL) and reference scanning. No language restrictions will be applied. Two independent reviewers will conduct screening and data extraction. The tabulated results will be informed by descriptive frequencies and content analysis, presenting comprehensive findings. The review protocol was retrospectively registered within OSF database on the 23 November 2023.

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The Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) in UK healthcare: Dichotomies in a new ‘multi-professional’ profession

Cited by 7 publications

References 30 publications

Developing the future research agenda for the health and social care workforce in the United Kingdom: Findings from a national forum for policymakers and researchers

Developing the future research agenda for the health and social care workforce in the United Kingdom: Findings from a national forum for policymakers and researchers

Scoping of advanced clinical practitioner role implementation using national job advertisements: Document analysis

Nurses’ Roles in Caring for Older People in Domiciliary Settings: A Scoping Review Protocol

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