Seasonal message from the Faculty
All of the team in the Faculty for Advancing Practice would like to wish all our stakeholder colleagues across the Midlands a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to further collaboration with you in 2024 as part of NHS England Workforce, Training and Education for progressing advanced practice developments in the Midlands and beyond.
Please note, the Faculty team will be available for advice and support over the Christmas and New Year period, with the exception of the Bank Holidays.
Centre for Advancing Practice conference
The national Centre for Advancing Practice Conference: A Future Worth Advancing was a great success, taking place on 8th and 9th November 2023 hosted live in the NHS England Midlands region from Central Birmingham. This virtual conference brought together speakers from across the professions to deliver a virtual conference to over 3000 delegates. The feedback received has been extraordinary. This annual conference is a key co-production-based event for the Centre for Advancing Practice and has grown each year since its inception in 2017.
This year was another resounding success, with the #AdvancingPractice2023 conference having keynote sessions looking at:
- Advancing for 75 years – Turning vision into reality, including an update on the exploration of the possibilities for regulation of advanced practice
- A more inclusive Future
- Diverse Workforce to tackle health inequalities
- Increasing the national voice for ICS advanced practice leads
Live panel sessions included:
- Opportunities of a global community
- Ask the Centre
- In conversation: the Faculty Leads
The conference was hosted in a live studio by the national Centre team and the regional faculties in collaboration with other colleagues. We had a number of key contributors from the Midlands presenting at the conference, such as Kate Knowles, James Pratt, and Sue Haines, who all participated in keynote sessions live from the conference studio – thank you all for participating. We were also very pleased to see our Midlands colleague, Stephanie Shea, the advanced practice lead at Northampton General Hospital win 1st prize in the poster competition for their poster of ‘A Service Evaluation of Workplace Clinical Supervision for Advanced Practitioners’.
Thank you everyone for contributing to and participating in the conference this year – it was the best yet, with palpable energy, enthusiasm, and keen interest noted.
The conference platform can be accessed online via the Centre for Advancing Practice website.
Midlands Advanced Practice Trainees Response to The National Education and Training Survey (NETS)
This year we have seen an incredible 250% improvement in the NETS survey response rate from advanced practice trainees in the Midlands which will ensure that more action can be taken to improve advanced practice trainees experience. This was all thanks to Midlands Advanced Practice Trainees who took time out of their busy roles to complete the survey and Advanced Practice Leads and Course Programme Leads who sent out the survey and reminders.
The annual NETS survey is run by the quality team in NHS England and is the only National survey open to all advanced practitioner trainees, so it is very important that we have a good response rate and act on the feedback about what’s working well or what could be improved upon for all trainees. All results are fully anonymised.
The feedback is categorised into key areas such as induction, supervision, overall learning experience etc. For each employing organisation, average score for each category is then compared to the National average scores. For the organisations that are excelling above the national average in certain categories, the quality team can actively promote and share best practice to other organisations. For the organisations that are underperforming in certain categories, the quality team would ask them to develop an improvement action plan which would be reviewed. The full NETS report for the Midlands will be published in 2024.
If you have any queries about the NETS survey, then please contact the quality team at england.qualityme@nhs.net or the Midlands Faculty for Advancing Practice at england.apfac.midlands@nhs.net
Making ESR Advanced Practitioner Re-Coding Efficient
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust have been working closely with NHS England over the last 6 months to review and cleanse the coding of their trainee and qualified advanced practitioners on the electronic staff record (ESR).
This work came about through the 2022 ISN Notice, where the ESR codes changed for advanced practitioners. There are now more specific job roles than the previous generic advanced practitioner for Nursing & Midwifery and Allied Health Professional staffing group and all Trusts are required to update their ESR codes using the Guide to ESR coding for Advanced Practice Roles.
However, Hereford and Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust went beyond the simple task of re-assigning ESR codes and thoroughly cleansed all of their advanced practice workforce data. They achieved this by being the first Trust in the Midlands to pilot the new Midlands, ESR Advanced Practice Quality Assurance Tool. This tool categorises all advanced practice job roles based on whether they appear to be on the right codes so the Trust can more effectively check any queries flagged to resolve these and re-code appropriately, without having to go through all of the data.
Developing the accurate advanced practice workforce record has proved beneficial for Hereford and Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust in a number of ways 1) engagement with department leads to review job plans and provide guidance on advanced practice roles 2) improved data for workforce planning and future advanced practitioner funding requests 3) being able to easily connect with all of their advanced practitioners (no accurate record of who they were before). This work would not have been possible without the dedicated time and energy provided by Trust key colleagues, Phill Morgan Henshaw, Advanced Practice Lead, Kevin Grey Workforce Information Manager and Hayley Payne from Administration.
This level of engagement will prove invaluable in the future, allowing career development for both existing and future Advanced Clinical Practitioners and supporting the retention challenges the Trust is experiencing. We hope this process is mirrored across other ICS provider organisations to create the optimum environment for future sharing of best practice, continuing professional development and developing possible future rotations across clinical specialities.
If your Trust is interested in using the new ESR Quality Assurance Data tool to support re-coding and data cleansing of their advanced practitioners on ESR, then please contact Rebecca McShane, Regional Project Manager at england.apfac.midlands@nhs.net
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) core advanced curriculum
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and Centre for Advancing Practice continue to work together to support pharmacists to be recognised as practising at an advanced level of practice in line with RPS Core Advanced curriculum and the NHS England Workforce, Training and Education (WT&E) Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England. Those who successfully complete the RPS e-portfolio assessment will be credentialed by the RPS as an advanced pharmacist. This credentialling will mean you will have recognised equivalence in level of advanced practice to those who have completed the NHS England WT&E ePortfolio (supported) Route or a Centre for Advancing Practice accredited MSc advanced practice programme.
After the initial call for interest via the Centre for Advancing Practice, the first cohort undertaking the CPPE pathway – RPS ePortfolio, were rolled out this March 2023. There have been another five cohorts undertaking their journey, in completing the RPS Core Advanced ePortfolio credentialling, with five submission dates for 2024, for those candidates on the joint RPS/Centre ePortfolio pathway.
RPS advanced pharmacist competency committees, meet regularly to review ePortfolio submissions and dates for 2024 can be found on the Core advanced pharmacist e-portfolio.
Of the first March 2023 pilot cohort, seven pharmacists have been credentialed by the RPS through the innovative pathway and you can read more about this first group of advanced pharmacists credentialed by RPS (rpharms.com).
If you are currently undertaking credentialling, there are supportive webinars for successful credentialling on the RPS website too.
Well done to all those who have completed this process and good luck to those undertaking this work.
Midlands ForumSOS!!!
Have you heard of the Midlands Advanced Practice Forum? We are a multiprofessional group who promote a platform for Advanced Practice networking and peer support, with shared learning across specialities in the NHS Midlands region. The forum has successfully collaborated with the NHS England Advanced Practice Faculty (Midlands) in its two regional conferences in 2021 and 2023.
The forum holds quarterly educational meetings (on MS Teams since the pandemic) and now plan to hold regular roadshow in-person events around the East and West Midlands. We successfully hosted almost 40 delegates to the event in Derby in July 2023; there was a great buzz in the room and a fantastic range of speakers who brought us up to date with all things Advanced Practice. Plans are underway for the April 2024 in-person event to be held in the Hereford and Worcester area.
The forum plans to launch its website with a live membership database in the near future; your membership subscription will give you access to a wide range of skilled experienced Advanced Practitioners/trainee Advanced Practitioners across the Midlands. Keep your eye out for more news to follow.
Our next virtual quarterly meeting is to be held on 17th January 2024 (12:00-14:30).
We look forward to welcoming you to the forum events and if you are not on our mailing list yet, please get in touch with our Chair, Mary Hutchinson – mary.hutchinson4@nhs.net – or Co- Chair, Hirminder Ubhi – Hirminder.ubhi@nhs.net
Introduction to Supervising Trainee Advanced Practitioners Webinar
The North East & Yorkshire Faculty for Advancing Practice in collaboration with the Midlands Faculty for Advancing Practice are pleased to announce that we will be holding a webinar on supervising trainee advanced practitioners on Thursday 8th February 2024, 12:30 – 14:00, via MS Teams.
- Are you a supervisor of trainee advanced practitioners?
- Do you know what resources are available in your role?
- Do you know what is expected of you and your trainee as supervisor and supervisee?
- Do you know why supervising a trainee advanced practitioner can be different?
This webinar will discuss and signpost you to resources for supervising trainee advanced practitioners, introduce the newly launched capabilities for supervision document and outline the support networks that are available for you in this role. There will also be an opportunity to ask any questions. To register please click here.
Midlands Advanced Practice Leads Forum; Mental Health, Learning Disabilities & Autism – Are you signed up???
This forum is chaired by our Advanced Practice, Mental Health Training Programme Director, Gemma Ford. It has been set up to support embedding Mental Health Advanced Practice into our trusts and across our region. The forum meets quarterly and so far, we have had two meetings. Feedback has been extremely positive and our leads are already supporting one another and sharing some great ideas.
It was acknowledged that advanced practice lead’s often feel isolated in their role and face similar challenges. The forum has been set up to enable advanced practice leads to share any concerns they have encountered, to be able share ideas and good practice, to embed different types of practice and support one another.
Our Training Programme Directors (TPDs) attend national forums and networks, this provides them with a first-hand account of the difficulties and challenges faced. This allows them to share your progress and raise any concerns you have at a national level. It enables them to share national information with the group first hand. It ensures that organisations remain up to date with the latest developments for advanced practice in mental health, learning disabilities and autism. If you are not part of this forum and would like to attend. Please contact the Faculty e-mail england.apfac.midlands@nhs.net providing details of your role within your organisation and we would be delighted to forward you an invite.
The next forum will take place on Friday 26th January 2024 @ 1.00 – 3.00pm
Paediatric advanced practice network
The recently established Paediatric Advanced Practice Network (PAPn) are looking for Paediatric Advanced Practitioners and Advanced Practitioners working with children and young people that would like to join a paediatric focused network supported by Partners in Paediatrics.
The network aims to:
- develop a platform for networking and raising the profile of paediatric advanced practice within the UK
- provide learning opportunities and resources and sharing of best practice and research
- work together to support service development, education and research
To sign up for the network please fill in the form on the website page.
Future event: PAPN Annual Conference – Wednesday 13th March 2024, further information can be found here.
Trainee Data Collection Form
As you may be aware the Faculty launched a Trainee Data Collection Form that we require all trainees to complete. By completing the form, you enable us to build up a data set of the profile of our trainees, including key information such as registrant backgrounds, and for tracking pauses, progression, and completions for funding purposes.
If you an advanced practitioner trainee in the Midlands in either year 1, or 2, or 3, and have not done so already, please complete the Trainee data Collection Form via this link.
If you are unsure whether you have completed the form, please get in touch with us at england.apfac.midlands@nhs.uk and we will check our records. It is important to follow this process to avoid and reduce the number of duplicate responses. Once you have completed the form, there is also an option to download a copy of your response. If you’ve any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Advanced Practice Trainees Moving Employer
When an advanced practice trainee moves employer, the continuation of trainee funding is not guaranteed and needs to be reviewed on an individual basis. This is because the funding is linked to a workforce need, not an individual’s personal development and so if the trainee moves from their employer where they originally secured the funding, the funding may stop if the requirements for providing the funding cannot be met by the new employing organisation.
There is a guidance document to support advanced practice trainees within the Midlands and their employers when they change employer during their funded course. This guidance applies to Midlands advanced practice trainees on all commissioned and apprenticeship MSc Advanced Clinical Practice programmes. To access this guidance please click here
To start the process, all Midlands advanced practice trainees who are planning to move employer need to complete this online form
If you have any queries about the new process then please contact the Faculty for Advancing Practice Midlands at england.apfac.midlands@nhs.net
Case Study – Hirminder Kaur Ubhi
We have been asking you to submit your case studies through to the Faculty and we have had some great submissions to showcase the amazing work our Advanced Practitioners are doing, across the region.
We are showcasing the work of Hirminder Kaur Ubhi who is a passionate pharmacist who has worked in most sectors, in various roles and now delivering care as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner.
If you’re feeling inspired and want us to showcase your work as an advanced practitioner in your region, download a case study template and submit it to england.apfac.midlands@nhs.net
Meet the team
Our Meet the Team page has recently been updated with more information on individual team members and the work we do.
Please do contact us should you require any help, information and assistance.