References
What is a primary care advanced practice role in Cornwall?
Abstract
In this quantitative study, Sarah Barea analyses the current advanced practice roles in primary care in Cornwall
Aim:
To analyse current primary care advanced practice roles in Cornwall, measured against Health Education England's Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice.
Method:
A quantitative questionnaire was sent to all primary care practitioners in the county practicing with an advanced title.
Findings:
In total, 34 respondents (approximately 60% of those invited) took part. Practitioners have a broad spectrum of experience and education and varied scope of clinical practice. The grading of roles does not compare with educational level, experience or scope of practice. This is consistent with current literature which explores the need to regulate the role.
Conclusion:
If the Advanced Practice Framework is implemented as planned, then there are gaps in current practice that need to be addressed in order to ensure practitioners have the competencies to provide safe, autonomous practice.
Healthcare in the UK has changed significantly over the last few years, with increasing pressure as a result of higher demand, greater workloads and widespread financial constraints (NHS England, 2014; 2017). At regional and local levels, there are widespread recruitment and retention issues, which have resulted in significant workforce gaps. The advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) role has increasingly been implemented to bridge the gap in services and has more recently extended to include other health professionals, including paramedics (Mahtani et al, 2018; NHS England, 2018). Historically, advanced practice is an umbrella term that refers to a level of practice in a range of clinical roles (Currie, 2010), which have lacked consistency in scope of practice, training and regulation (King et al, 2017). The growth of these roles has been accompanied by the debate about how these roles should be defined and what core capabilities and skills are required, because in theory anyone can call themselves an ‘advanced practitioner’ (AP) as the title has no protection (Nadaf, 2018).
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