Urgent Care Clinician

**URGENT CARE PRACTITIONER**

**SALARY** Dependent on experience.

**JOB TITLE**: Urgent Care Practitioner

**RESPONSIBLE TO**: Doctors (Partners), Joint Practice Manager (Quality, Safety and Performance)

**JOB PURPOSE**: To run the minor illness service alongside the other urgent care practitioners within the practice.

**JOB SUMMARY**:
The post holder is responsible for delivering the Minor Illness Urgent care service. Supported by senior nurses within the practice, they will deliver care within the boundaries of their role. They will work collaboratively with the general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures and providing leadership as required. For this purpose, a Minor Illness Certificate is necessary.

As this is General Practice, the role and post may change as the working environment evolves to keep up to date with future developments within the NHS, it may therefore be necessary to vary the responsibilities and hours as the future needs of the practice dictate, this will only be done after review and consultation.

You will be expected to carry out reasonable duties, which the practice manager or the doctors may request from time to time.

**SPECIFIC SKILLS FOR URGENT CARE PRACTITIONERS**:

- Fever and flu-like illness
- Respiratory Tract Infections
- Minor infections (urine etc.)
- Ear, Nose and Throat pain
- External Eye problems
- Head, Neck and Back pain
- General aches & pains
- Skin trauma
- Abdomen Pain
- Women’s Health
- Mental Health
- Ailments & Injuries

**KEY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR URGENT CARE PRACTITIONERS**:

- Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients presenting with minor illnesses.
- Making professional decisions for which he/she is accountable
- Provide care for patients presenting with undiagnosed conditions, using skills in history taking, physical examination, problem-solving and clinical decision-making to establish a diagnosis and management plan.
- Instigate necessary diagnostic tests or investigations and interpret findings and reports.
- Offer a holistic service to patients and their families/carers, developing, where appropriate, an ongoing plan of care/support emphasising education, prevention and self-care.
- Refer patients directly to other services/agencies as appropriate, working with the multi-disciplinary team and local ICB.
- Working with clinical colleagues to ensure the national frameworks are being delivered.
- Attend relevant practice meetings, training etc., as required for the post.
- Contribute to the practice achieving its targets to sustain high-quality patient care and service delivery standards.

**Clinical Practice**:

- Assess, plan, develop, implement, and evaluate treatment programs to promote health and well-being and prevent adverse effects on health and wellbeing
- Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiating effective emergency care.
- Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side effects and interactions.
- Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that encourage patients to live healthily and encourage principles of self-care.
- Independently prescribe as appropriate within level of competency, in line with local and national guidelines and with antimicrobial guardianship in mind.

**Communication**:

- Demonstrate sensitive communication styles to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment.
- Communicate with and support patients who are receiving ‘bad news’
- Utilise communication skills to support patients in adhering to prescribed treatment regimens.
- Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural backgrounds and preferred ways of communicating.
- Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication.
- Estimate and maintain effective communication within the practice environment.
- Act as an advocate when representing patients and colleagues.
- Participate in practice team meetings, delivering the nursing agenda.
- Ensure awareness of sources of support and guidance (eg PALS) and provide information in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any difficulties and referring where appropriate
- Communicate effectively with other team members

**Delivering a Quality Service**:

- Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the registered professional body.
- Produce accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient consultation consistent with legislation, policies and procedures.
- Prioritise, organise and manage own and other’s workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality.
- Deliver care as an individual and team according to NSF, NICE guidelines and evidence-based care.
- Ass