Monthly Updates

Meet Dr Kirsty Martin-McGill, Advanced Practice Education and Training Senior Manager

Email address: Kirsty.martin-mcgill@nhs.net

Kirsty is the Education and Training Senior Manager for the faculty. Kirsty joined the team from a national role, previously working as Recognition Lead at the Centre for Advancing Practice. She is a registered dietitian and has experience of working in clinical and research environments, specialising in neurosciences, and in academia as a senior lecturer and programme lead.  Kirsty completed her PhD in 2019; the innovative research led to her being awarded CN ‘Clinical Nutrition Professional of the Year’.  She has authored numerous Cochrane reviews and contributed to NICE guidance publications.

As the Education and Training Senior Manager, Kirsty leads on supervision and assessment, ensuring quality learning experiences and environments.  Kirsty works closely with education providers, advanced practice leads and training hubs to achieve this. She also supports the
wider workforce transformation agenda, such as the successful delivery of the long-term
workforce plan in relation to advancing practice across the North West
region.   

The Faculty invite you to become a member of our Trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioner Steering Group, for 2024 – 2025.
This group was founded in 2023 in a bid to involve trainee advanced practitioners in the work that the Faculty are doing to improve and uphold the quality of your education and training.

We had over 40 responses last year and some of our current members will continue their tenure throughout their programme of study.  So far, our members have helped shape key documents such as our Practice Support Guide and supported the Faculty as ambassadors for the National Education and Training Survey.  In return for your engagement as a steering group ambassador the faculty will provide networking, support, and guidance, alongside your academic and clinical roles.

 Membership is voluntary. In response to feedback, we have increased the frequency of our meetings to every 2 months, to maximise our engagement with you all. In addition, we will be running a drop in ‘Open Surgery’ each month. This will be run by one of the training programme directors and can be used by you, your peers and supervisors. It will be an open forum and a point of contact with the faculty for any queries, questions, concerns. 

We also encourage membership from trainees who have just completed their studies and are in the first 12 months of their substantive role. We aim to support the transition from trainee’ to ‘qualified’ and act as a
point of contact during your preceptorship period.

Our first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 26th November, 12 – 1pm.  A Microsoft Teams invite will be sent once applications have been reviewed.
All members receive a certificate to acknowledge their contribution at the end of each academic
year.  
This is an evolving group and we welcome feedback and suggestions on how we can improve it.  

If you are interested in joining us, please complete the form here, by end of day Friday 15th November 2024.

Advanced Practice CPD day for the NW Imaging Academy 

Annabella was invited to speak at the NW Imagining Academy CPD event to deliver a session on Advancing Practice. The day was hosted at Edge Hill University and was attended by radiographers at various stages in their careers. 

An overview of the Centre for Advancing Practice, the NW Faculty for Advancing Practice, and the Society for Radiographers Education and Career Framework for the Radiography Workforce was discussed in relation to advanced and consultant level practice.  

The day concluded with a consultant breast radiographer sharing her week as a consultant radiographer. 

Touching base with conference a year on  

The NW Faculty for Advancing Practice hosted its annual conference 19th May 2023, which was delivered in collaboration with the three ICS Advanced Practice Leads.   

The Faculty have recently emailed out a short survey to delegates who attended, asking how the information and knowledge from the conference has been implemented into practice within the last year.  

If you have not yet completed this survey and attended the conference but have not yet  received a survey link, please use this link so we can hear and learn about the amazing work you are doing in your service, for patients and organisation. This will help capture how we are optimising Advanced Practice across the North West and creating impact across all four pillars.

The deadline for completion of this survey will be COP Friday 12^th July. 

Trust AP Leads meetings 

During April and May the Faculty have been meeting with the AP Leads for the 32 NHS Foundation Trusts. We have a small number of meetings taking place in June. These meetings have been to discuss: 

– Achievements in the last 12 months that have made improvements that aligned to the governance maturity matrix 

– 24/25 Funding – offers, ensuring timely recruitment for trainees to commence in September 2024 

– Trainees that started in September 2022 onwards to discuss any quality concerns and changes in circumstances  

– Results from the NETs survey and actions to take forward 

– Supervisors and supervisory needs (capabilities/growth) – assurances that the trainees are getting the minimum supervision standards 

– Strategy and Transformation within the Trust to support the Long Term Workforce Plans for Advanced Practitioners.  

North West’s HEI Advanced Practice Programme Leads meeting  

Early June, the Faculty met with the NW programme leads from all the North West Universities that deliver an Advanced Practice MSc programme. The focus of the meeting was quality, ensuring everyone is aware of the processes in place for quality concerns and changes in circumstances. The day provided fruitful conversations of scenarios of where earlier interventions could take place to reduce the number of trainees who may go on interruption or withdraw from programme.  

The meeting also explored supporting future educators and cross – collaboration to evidence the impact of advanced practitioners across the North West. 

Governance Maturity Matrix – Primary Care Meeting  

The three ICS Primary Care Training Hubs were invited to discuss the Advanced Practice Governance Maturity Matrix. This tool has been developed  to ensure organisations have the right governance and support in place for the development of Advanced Practitioners. It is essential this is embedded into Primary Care Organisations, as the tool highlights the due diligence that is required for an effective learning environment. The Training Hubs are working to support practices post funding being offered to ensure the right governance is in place.  

How the Faculty are connecting Trusts across the North West to develop Advanced Practice roles 

As the Advanced Practice workforce grows across the North West there is the development of transformational and innovative roles. It is important to share and connect across the north west. Recently the Faculty have created connections for the following: 

– NHSE are currently funding two different Trusts that have recruited Podiatrists that are attending the specialist Masters of Podiatric Surgery (Advanced Clinical Practice Apprenticeship) in Huddersfield.  The Faculty have been able to create a connection with another Trust who are looking to develop an Advanced Practice role within a Podiatry service. 

– A Trust has reached out to the Faculty regarding the development of a Senior Advanced Practitioner in the Community and wanted to see if there are current roles across the North West that they could learn from. The Faculty have access to data to identify such roles and create those connections.  

Please reach out to the Faculty if you are thinking about developing an Advanced Practice role within your service and want to learn from other experiences to help shape that role and support the business case for development.  

Primary Care Training Hub Leads within the North West 

Ewan Armitage – Cheshire and Merseyside 

I’m the new FCP/AP lead for Primary Care within Cheshire & Merseyside. As an Advanced Practitioner myself, I split my time with clinical practice, working at a GP practice in south Cheshire. My role with the C&M training hub is a new one, so is primarily involved with building a network of contacts in primary care. I have been involved in helping employing organisations to develop business cases for Advanced Practice funding and I am in the process of setting up focus groups for FCPs & APs within the C&M footprint.  I have set up a working group to consider job planning for APs employed in primary care and am supporting the wider workforce development in the sector, including working with local HEIs to provide FCPs and APs for primary care. I am part of a task and finish group looking at clinical supervision and am also in the process of working with partners in primary and secondary care and the higher education sector in developing a CPD framework for advanced practitioners supporting paediatric and mental health presentations.

Moving forward, I will be responsible for supporting the introduction of the Governance Maturity Matrix in primary care and ensuing advanced practitioners are at the heart of the implementation and adoption of this.

Wendy Winnard – Greater Manchester

I’m Wendy Winnard the ACP Lead for the Greater Manchester Primary Care Training Hub (GMTH). I started my career in the NHS back in 2002, since then I have worked in many different roles but predominantly within General Practice as a Practice Nurse and ACP, I’ve also worked in different strategic roles within Greater Manchester and NHSE. 

Since joining the Primary Care Training Hub in June 2023 I feel as though I have made a significant impact on implementing the ACP agenda. I have supported many difference practices in order to embed ACP roles within their workforce and to ensure that the correct governance and quality assurance measures are in place. Embedding Advanced Practice Roles into Primary Care will not only ease demand on General Practice which directly has an impact on patient care, but will also have a significant  impact on transforming and improving services. This will ensure people see the right health care professional as early as possible to improve their overall health outcomes. 

I am a main point of contact for health care professionals looking to upskill to an ACP Role within PC and value the importance of ensuring people receive the correct supervision, support and guidance through out there career. To assist with this I have successfully set up a monthly GM ACP Forum of which provides a platform for peer group support for trainee, newly qualified and experienced ACP’s working within GM.

I am passionate about ensuring that the educational needs of the Primary Care Workforce are met and that the workforce are supported to have the correct skills, training and knowledge in order to provide the best possible care in a safe manner.

I also have a keen interest in ensuring that quality improvement initiatives are showcased to share best practice and learning across the Integrated Care System.

Sara Baldwin – Lancashire and South Cumbria

I currently work as the ACP Champion lead for Lancashire and South Cumbria Primary care training hub, working with NHSE to support staff to develop and access the master’s via university or the portfolio route. I work closely with NHSE ensuring that the learners  are fully funded and act as liaison between the surgeries and the HEI’s. We are currently building a group of mentors to work with newly recruited and newly qualified ACP’s throughout the training years and throughout the first year following qualification.

I also run a monthly online forum built around the four pillars to enable  ACPs in Lancashire and South Cumbria, to engage in CPD, development and research and to share good practice.

My other role is that of nurse manager in a GP surgery, and enjoy my clinical time. I am also co chair of the Shared decision making council for Primary care, and am passionate about nurse support, engagement and development. 

North West Faculty for Advancing Practice Highlights for 2023 / 2024:

Late Submission

Following the funding request process, the North West Faculty for Advancing Practice has launched the late submission. This will prioritise specific specialty areas. 

Please see further information on our 24 / 25 funding page – here. 

The National Education and Training Survey (NETS)

The National Education and Training Survey (NETS) is the only national survey open to all learners undertaking a practice placement or training post in healthcare services across England.  It offers a unique insight into the multi-professional practice learning environment and the experience of the current and future health and care workforce.

The survey which was open from 3 October to 28 November 2023 provides an overview of responses from 262 Advanced Practice learners based in the North West.  Responses around the quality of placement or training posts demonstrated that learners scored this to be Outstanding or Good.

Placement quality & supervision:

At the start of the placement, 86.6% of learners had the opportunity to discuss and agree their learning needs with their supervisor.

The overall supervision experienced by those who responded was good or outstanding with a minority reporting this to be unsatisfactory.

Retention:

When asked if learners had considered leaving over 29% answered yes.  Reasons for this included feeling overwhelmed or stressed with the situation, and workload.

Reasons given for those who have stayed and not considered leaving include: support from friends / family / colleagues, working with patients, being passionate about healthcare, and because they were enjoying the training.

How the Faculty for Advancing Practice will utilise this:

It is recognised that many experienced health professionals who move into an Advanced practice trainee role experience imposter syndrome, feelings of being overwhelmed particularly at the start of the programme. It is important to strengthen induction / peer support and mentorship opportunities in addition to formal supervision to reduce this.

The Faculty have been sharing the organisational level results with each Advanced Practice lead as part of their bi-annual one to one meetings and discussing ways to support trainees  and address any concerns raised.

The Faculty will continue to work with collaboratively with all stakeholders and share actions / improvements with trainees. The AP trainee steering group will work with the Faculty  to prepare trainees for the 2024 survey in Autumn with the aim to increase the response rate, which will support a greater understanding of trainees’ experience across the region which will drive further improvements.

The benefits for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust ensuring  all the Advanced Practice workforce was identifiable within the Electronic Saff Records (ESR) – Dian Huyton (Lead ACP Bolton FT), Claire Partridge (Lead for Nursing, Midwifery and AHP Development, Bolton FT), Tracy Cassidy (Workforce Information Analyst, Bolton FT).

Historically, advanced practitioner roles at Bolton NHS FT have tended to evolve and be developed in an adhoc fashion rather than be part of any strategic workforce planning. This is reflected in the ESR workforce data pre-2023 where there was ambiguity over advanced practitioner job titles, levels of practice and differences between other specialisms. From January 2023, to ensure the advanced practitioner workforce was titled correctly and coded appropriately on ESR (and according to NHSE guidance ‘Advanced Practitioner roles – a guide to ESR coding’), the project team worked closely with clinical managers at Bolton FT and the NW Faculty for advancing practice to cleanse the ESR data. This has allowed them to correctly identify clinicians who are working at advanced practitioner level but also identify those who’s training and experience didn’t match the principles and capabilities as set out in the national framework.

Dian Huyton shares that “An unperceived benefit of the process has been that we now have a much greater awareness of where our advanced practitioner are across the Trust. This has supported workforce planning and reform. In addition it has also given us the opportunity to develop a more cohesive community of ACP’s across Bolton FT, strengthening the governance around the ACP role.”

Development & sign off Advanced Practice strategy & what it means to Cheshire and Merseyside – Sara Dalby

As lead for AP across C&M ICS Sara has led on an AP strategy;

The strategy was developed to align with the Advanced Practice Governance Matrix to support governance and assurance and is categorised under the 8 headings.

The strategy was co-produced with the North West Faculty of Advancing Practice and the AP leads from across Cheshire and Merseyside and utilising a logic model to identify outcomes and impact

To operationalise the strategy, Task and Finish groups have been created with specific outcomes:

– Job Planning

– Portfolios and Appraisals

– Supervision

– Community

– Recruitment

The agreed principles from this work will provide the standardisation that can be operationalised by employers. A link to the three year strategy can be found here:

An example of how the Faculty for Advancing Practice can provide support to Trainees through our Trainee Programme Directors (TPD) – Jaclyn Proctor

Jaclyn Proctor shares an example:

“As a TPD connecting with our regional trainees is central to our role. When I first started in my TPD role I was fortunate to meet a practitioner who took the time explained how undertaking the Maths and English during the advanced practice master programme felt. Sharing this and talking about the processes provide the opportunity to understand the wider picture for our trainees. More recently, the trainee reached out to communicate that they had successfully complete the master’s programme and passed the Advanced Practice Programme, which was fantastic news to receive.”

Radiography Scoping Report

The North West Regional Faculty for Advancing Practice commissioned a Consultant Radiographer (Joleen Kirsty Eden) at East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust to undertake a radiography workforce scoping & readiness evaluation of advanced and consultant level practice across the region to understand how the rediography workforce are working and supporting service need. The report can be found here and we will be working with key stakeholders to address the recommendations identified in this report – link.

Trainee Advanced Practitioner Steering Group:

We held our first virtual meeting on the 14^th November. The steering group includes a variety of trainees and newly qualified advanced practitioners representing the multi-professional landscape of our practice. The focus of the first meeting explored elements to shape the terms of reference and how as a group we can communicate and work together to promote the NETS survey.

The plan will be that the group will be involved in collaborating with the Faculty when reviewing documents, focusing on what our new trainees require when commencing their programmes and co-creating new developments together. Our next meeting will be held online in February 2023. 

Webinar – Leadership for improvement – Using a Quality Approach to your Work.

This webinar was held on the 30^th November – the Faculty had 59 online attendees who joined to hear our key speakers Jane Murkin and Milena Krasinska-Chavez. Case studies were presented by Sarah Bolton, Nicola White, and Rachel Baird who shared their own work as ACPs and discussed quality improvement.

The webinar provided a great opportunity for reflection and to consider the approach for ACPs to QI in the workplace.

A poster has been created following the webinar – link.

Trainee Advancing Practice Steering Group 

Earlier this month, Anna Riley and Jaclyn Proctor created a Trainee Advancing Practice Steering Group. The aim of the group is to represent advanced practice from across the North West region, with membership from a variety of higher education institutions, specialities and professional backgrounds.  

Given trainees are at the heart of what we do as a Faculty, it seemed logical that our trainees inform and contribute to the faculty’s workstreams.  

From the applications, we managed to get 37 representatives which covers; 

 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd year Trainees APs 

Representation from 9/10 HEIs 

Representation from all 3 ICS areas 

A range of specialities including; Acute medicine / urgent care / emergency medicine, Surgery (including breast, general & spinal), Specialty medicine (inc. geriatrics, chronic pain, gastro & congenital heart), Community, Oncology (inc. Acute & therapy), critical care, learning disability, mental health and primary care. 

A range of professions including; Nurse (inc. MH), ODP, Physiotherapist, Speech & language therapist, Pharmacist and Paramedic 

The first meeting is set to take place on 14^th November 2023. 

Summary of Supervision and Assessment lead day in London  

On 19^th October, the Supervision and Assessment Leads (S&A leads) met up together for a face-to-face day in London, led by Deborah Harding, the Supervision subject matter expert. 

It was an opportunity to review the work with the S&A leads to date and look to the future and what that holds for Advanced Practice supervision. 

The new supervision capability framework was discussed – especially regarding implementation regionally and the supervision session at the National AP Conference on 8^th/9^th November. 

A link to the framework is here.

Further details about the framework and supervisor resources will be coming soon.

Prison Healthcare Transformation Webinar 

On Tuesday 3^rd October, NHSE North West hosted a national Prison Healthcare Transformation webinar that discussed the wide range of options for developing the workforce and service provision in secure services across the country. 

Kay Roscoe and Nick Worth represented Advanced Practice by presenting the benefits of having an Advanced Clinical Practitioner within a Prison Healthcare Service.  

Kay described the breadth of attributes that an ACP can bring and introduced Karen Daniels and Catherine Lay Brooks, who are both experienced ACPs in Prison Services, to share their career journey and the opportunities for development of the role. 

Nick then explained the education pathways and options for those wishing to ‘grow their own’ Trainee ACPs and funding on offer. 

There were some great questions from the attendees and we are hoping to see an increase in the number of Trainee ACPs applying for their ACP Masters programme in the coming year. 

Thanks to Kay, Karen and Catherine for such inspirational talks! 

Lancashire and South Cumbria Primary Care Training Hub Webinar 

On 7^th September Liz Reilly and Annabella Gloster were invited to join a webinar that the L&SC Primary care training hub were hosting for their ICS. 

Both Liz and Annabella gave an overview of the vision, purpose, and the priority areas of work within the Faculty and our highlights from the last year. 

The webinar then focussed on providing information on the application process for NHSE funding via either the Apprenticeship or fees funded routes onto the Masters in AP programmes and gaining recognition of capability as an AP through the supported e-Portfolio route.  

Key messages around the criteria for reimbursement for Advanced practitioners through the ARRS scheme and key enablers to supporting and developing trainee ACPs were shared and individuals who have recently gone through both the Masters and supported e-Portfolio routes gave an insight into the ‘lived experience’. 

Feedback from participants following the webinar has been overwhelmingly positive. 

Poster Presentations – TPD projects 

In the first year of their secondment, the Training Programme Directors (TPDs) created individual projects that aimed to have a direct impact on AP Trainees across the North West. 

These were completed in February 2023 and presented to the Faculty as well as Andrea Boland , Head of Nursing, Helen Duff, Senior Quality Lead and Chris Cutts, the Regional Director. 

To see what the projects entailed you can visit their summarised poster presentations – the link is here. 

Community Advisors Project 

The Community Advanced Practice Project was run from October 2022 to March 2023 to identify service development opportunities within Community services for Advanced practitioners.

The Faculty had received national funding to support this project to promote the use of AP’s across the North West.

The region was split into 24 sections and we shared these out between 8 Community APs who engaged with existing and potential employers and practitioners via a range of activities such as webinars and events.

Over 450 activities were conducted over the project and the summary can be found here.

Already, we have seen double the applications for funding for trainee APs in Community settings for 23/24 since the project began.

Our thanks go to all of the Community Advisors who helped make the project such a success and all those who engaged with them.. 

Optimising Advanced Practice across the North West 

The NW region held their first Advancing Practice conference on 19^th May 2023 which was delivered in partnership with the North West Faculty for Advancing Practice, the Advanced Practice Leads from the three North West Integrated Care Systems and experts in clinical practice and academia. The event was ‘sold out’ in less than 48 hours with 268 attending. 

The conference focus was for advanced practitioners across the region to explore how  we can optimise advanced practice in the North West. The faculty shared a vision where advanced practitioners are integral to the design and delivery of every care pathway and system in the future, demonstrating the positive contribution to transforming services and improving patient care. 

Conference sessions included: Changes in population health across the North west; System leadership, Demonstrating the value of advancing practice from a health economic perspective and several workshops focussing on all pillars of practice. The full conference programme with biographies of speakers can be found on our webpage – link .  

A reverse panel concluded the conference day asking the delegates a series of questions, to challenge how they can contribute to demonstrating impact and realising a vision for the NW. Delegates were asked to share two pledges following the day and here are a few examples which we will be following up later this year: 

– To continue to strive as a role model & leader in our NHS 

– Contributing to highlighting advanced practice within my organisation   

– Promote the good work I am doing as an ACP 

Eva from the NW NHSE (WT&E) comms team supported the event and shared via twitter photos and quotes from many of the speakers on the day. A lot of activity was posted on social media with some examples below #APNWConference23

The International Journal for Advancing Practice also supported the event with providing poster prize for the winner out of 13 posters that were successful in being presented on the day. Since the conference the editor has invited several of the authors to him for support to publish these as  future pieces of work in the journal. 

Overall the event was hugely successful in energising, networking and pledging to enact the full potential advanced practitioners can make across systems and for the North West. We will look to evaluate progress later this year with a plan on continuing the relationships established to support Advanced practitioners across the region. 

North West Advancing Practice Conference – Poster abstract submissions  

 A number of submissions for our NW conference was received and reviewed by a panel of ICS AP Leads and members of the Faculty. 

The authors of the successful abstracts will have the opportunity to present their poster at the conference in Manchester on the 19^th May. There are a breadth of topic areas. Examples include education; digital platforms; screening for delirium; improving the perioperative pathways for patients with diabetes. Specialties include mental health; research; community; private and voluntary sector and acute care and includes a diverse multi-professional range. The poster abstracts will be shared on our webpage after the conference on the 19^th May. 

North West Provider Advanced Practice Events 

The Faculty have been excited to be invited to a number of advanced practice events this year whereby organisational leads have brought together their AP workforce including trainees. Events have focused on providing an overview of the Faculty and what the vision is for the NW and how we can work collaboratively together in addition to exploring organisational strategies to ensure governance, exploring professional development and a network for their advanced practitioners. 

If you are considering hosting an event please contact us if you would like someone from the Faculty to attend. 

NW Regional Faculty for Advancing Practice – highlights 2022/23 

Below is a summary of some key pieces of work the faculty have been involved in and/or delivered across the year: 

Summary Report of Offers

On Tuesday 4 April 2023, the Faculty emailed all designated leads with the outcome of their organisation’s funding request submissions.   

Organisations are now required to; 

– Accept or decline the offer by Wednesday 19^th April 2023,  

– Commence the recruitment process,  

– Engage with the Programme Lead at the offered University,   

– Liaise with appropriate teams regarding the apprenticeship requirements   

If you have any questions regarding the process, please do contact our email address acp.nw@hee.nhs.uk   

As it stands, we have received 420 applications 410 of which were approved for funding. 

Late Submission Launch  

Following the funding request process, the NW Faculty for Advancing Practice is due to launch the late submission on Monday 17^th April 2023. This will prioritise specific speciality areas. 

An email will be sent with a link to the funding request application form to our sign up database – the link for the database is here. 

End of Year Summary – Achievements

A summary of progress and achievements by the Faculty for Advancing Practice in 22-23 can be seen here: 

Primary Care Day 

On 30^th March Nick, Debra and Catherine attended the Primary Care event at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St. Helens. 

The event was run by the Training Hubs from the ICS areas of Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Mersey and Lancashire and South Cumbria. 

Over 100 attendees came for a range of talks regarding Allied Health professions and Advanced Practice opportunities in the region. 

The Faculty hosted a stall and two breakout sessions on supervision in the workplace. 

Community AP event day 

On Friday 31^st March, the Faculty held an end of project celebration day for the Community AP project that has been running for the past six months. 

The Community ACP advisors have had engagement with over 700 people throughout the project and we have seen over double the applications for AP trainees this year in Community settings. 

The Community ACP advisors have worked hard to shine a light on the great opportunities that exist for AP’s within the specialty and where services can be developed further. 

Our thanks go to all of the ACPs for their support and we will share the overall final project findings on the website soon! 

Case Study – Deepak Agnihotri

On 2 April it was World Autism Day, to celebrate this the Faculty would like to showcase  Deepak Agnihotri a Faculty Training Programme Director/ ACP and how he works across the 4 pillars of advanced practice. Deepak is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Learning Disabilities and Autism. 

Deepak has facilitated a network for Learning Disability & Autism (LD&A) who have been meeting over several weeks to establish a quality matrix and identify where support is required. The project aimed to ensure that ACP LD&A trainees feel well supported, and the project made great strides to accomplish this. 

Deepak – Case Study 

Autumn 2023 – Spring 2024 North West Advancing Practice Funding application closing date 15 February 2023 

Late November 2022 we launched the funding application process for the Autumn 2023 and Spring 2024 Advancing Practice Masters Programme.  

Funding will be allocated to employers to address their population/service need and is not available for individual/s’ continual professional development. 

For full guidance on how to implement and fund advancing practice please access our guide on our webpage 

What should you do if you are interested in applying for funding  

If your service is part of an NHS Trust please contact you AP Lead who can support the development of an Advanced Practice role and the expression of interest process.  

All other employers delivering NHS commissioned services please follow this link to complete an expression of interest form  

The deadline for submissions to the Faculty is very close so if you have not submitted please do  Wednesday 15 February 2023 

World Cancer Day 

On 4 February it is World Cancer Day – a day that unites people, communities and entire countries to raise awareness and take action. In support of this awareness, the Faculty would like to show case the career pathway of Lucy Buckley – Consultant Colorectal Radiographer.    

Lucy Buckley – Case Study

Save the date – North West Advancing Practice Conference 19th May 2023

Commissioned a project to scope the advanced practice and consultant practice radiographer workforce 

The Faculty have commissioned a project to identify the advanced and consultant practice radiography workforce across the North West that meets the capabilities in the Multi-professional Framework for Advanced Practice in England and the recently published Education and Career Framework by the Society of Radiographers – link  

Gaining an understanding of the existing skills and function at this level with any challenges or barriers practitioners face will help with workforce conversations and allowed targeted interventions where they are most appropriate to support service transformation. 

This will assist and support skill mix conversations within ICS’ and Providers, with an aim of providing some best practice and case studies to share to support workforce and job planning conversations as well as longer term planning, strategic decision making and retention of the workforce. 

Funding to support a workforce audit of Advanced Practitioner for ESR and to support upskilling  

The Faculty have offered an Advanced Practitioner training and education investment to all NHS Trusts to support the ESR coding changes and upskilling of the advanced practice workforce. Trusts that have accepted this allocation will be completing an advanced practice workforce audit in order to update the relevant workforce’s ESR coding. This will enable the Trust to have accurate records of the workforce that will enable to support advanced practitioners to further upskill by accessing training. This can include training for experienced advanced practitioners to become supervisors to new advanced practice trainees.  

Faculty for the first time able introduce us to the identified trainee advanced practitioner’s clinical supervisors 

From the September 2022 cohort of ACP Trainees, the Faculty have requested a named supervisor as part of the application process. 

This will enable us to have direct access to the supervisors of the trainees and be able to share resources and updates as well as offer support.  

The Faculty are also creating a supervisor within ACP course to develop the knowledge and experience of those practitioners who are new to supervision. Our aim over the medium to long term is to encourage existing ACP’s to become supervisors and reduce the reliance on medics, who have previously carried the weight of the supervision workload. 

As new evidence and resources become available through the work of the Centre for Advancing Practice and the regional Faculties, this can be sent directly to the ACP supervisors in the North West to improve the support that trainees receive throughout their training. 

The Faculty can also be the point of contact for supervisors if they require any support or wish to discuss any problems that they may be experiencing. The Training Programme Directors, within the Faculty, are available to assist in this support across the region.

Advanced Clinical Practice LUHFT Conference 

Debra presented at Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust’s first away day for their Advanced Clinical Practitioners. This was the first time that all trainee and qualified advanced practitioners were in the same room. Julie Brake, AP Lead for the Trust organised the event with a focus around the research pillar. Experts attended and shared some fantastic presentations to support Advanced Practitioners to become more involved in quality improvements and research. Three Advanced Practitioners in the Trust shared their experiences within the closing part of the day covering an overview of supervision. Congratulations to Julie Brake for a successful, thought provoking and engaging day.  

Faculty looking for Advanced Practitioners to develop their case study 

Liam Hagerty has been working on a project to raise the profile of Advanced Practitioners through case studies, which are showcased on the Faculty’s website. So far 8 case studies have been developed and they have had positive feedback and substantial engagement on social media. 

The Faculty want to hear from a breadth of Advanced Practitioners to showcase the diversity of role across areas and professions at an advanced  level of practice. We want to showcase a truly multi-professional advanced practice workforce across a variety of specialities and services in the North West. If you would like to be featured in a case study, please complete the survey. The faculty will review all submissions and where appropriate develop your own case study. 

To take part in this exciting opportunity please click here to complete the form. If you have any questions, you can contact Liam at Liam.Hagerty@hee.nhs.uk . 

New team member 

Sasha Johnson has joined the Education and Commissioning team in HEE for the Advancing Practice financial process. Sasha is currently ensuring that all trainees are validated and where there are any missing gaps to gain confirmation to enable an education training contract to be drawn up and payment schedules to be shared specifically with primary care practices and private, independent and voluntary organisations.  

 Supporting HEE funded Advanced Practice trainees 

Autumn 2022 trainees are the first trainees to complete the newly developed trainee data collection form. Having information about our new trainees will help the faculty to directly offer the support from our Training Programme Directors, ensure they have a supervisor in alignment to our funding requirements and so we can share all our useful information that is on our website. All trainees will receive our monthly update emails too. In previous years we have not had the contact details of the HEE funded trainees and in the new year we will start to look at all existing trainees to complete our form. 

Advancing Practice Week 13 – 19 November 2022  

The Faculty for Advancing Practice will be taking part in Advancing Practice week with daily tweets via the @NHSHEE_NWest account. Please follow this account to receive daily updates of how we are celebrating Advanced Practice week.  

The Faculty would love you to celebrate Advancing Practice week, by sharing the great work you do either as an Advanced Practitioner, a trainee Advanced Practitioner or supporting the development of an Advanced Practice 

Don’t forget to use the hashtags – #AdvPracWeek2022 #ACPNW 

Case Study

To celebrate #WorldRadiographyDay on the 8^th November, the Faculty for Advancing Practice are showcasing Tess Roberts, Advanced Clinical Practitioner with a background in Radiography, and how she works across the 4 pillars of Advanced Practice.

Tessa Roberts – Case Study

 Primary Care Event

On 21^st September the GM Training Hub held a conference for Primary Care teams. Liam and Nick represented the Faculty at the event to hear about Advanced Practice developments and meet the attendees. 

The event was well attended and was a great opportunity to get out and meet some Advanced Practitioners doing great work in the region. 

Lancashire and South Cumbria Foundation Trust Event

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHSFT held an ACP Forum education event on 27^th September at the Lancashire FA ground.  

The Faculty were invited by Teresa Lean to give an overview of Advanced Practice and the work of the Faculty. Nick spoke about the support that ACP Trainee and qualified practitioners receive from HEE and the Faculty – including supervision. Anna Riley, one of our TPD’s discussed job planning and a consolidation year within ACP. 

Loads of fantastic discussions and opportunities to network within the region. 

Community Advisor

Over the past few weeks, the Faculty have met with 8 Community Advisors to work across the North West to fact find and develop the provision of ACP’s within the Community setting. 

This is a project that is planned to last around 6 months and will help promote the benefits of Community Advanced Practice and identify future Community ACP Trainees. 

The team will get together virtually in mid-October to kick off the project.  

We are really looking forward to working together with all of the Community Advisors and I am sure that they will be visible across the whole region soon! 

Case Study 

To celebrate #AHPsDay on the 14^th October, the faculty are showcasing our own Tanya Rumney , Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Dietetics, and how she works across the 4 pillars of Advanced Practice. 

Tanya Rumney – Case Study 

North West Faculty for Advancing Practice Virtual Information Event- Tuesday 11^th October 2022  

This is a reminder that the North West Faculty for Advancing Practice are hosting a full day virtual information event on Tuesday 11^th October 2022. The event is aimed at prospective and current ACP trainees, existing Advanced Practitioners, and employing organisations (including primary care practices, service leads and Advanced Practice Leads.) Please press our events section link for more information. 

If you haven’t already, please remember to register to attend this event via this form by 10th October 2022. 

Advancing Practice in Physiotherapy and Primary Care

To celebrate #WorldPhysiotherapyDay, the North West Faculty for Advancing Practice would like to showcase how Liz Reilly, a Physiotherapist, and Advanced Practitioner in Primary Care, works across the 4 pillars of Advanced Practice.

Liz Reilly – Case Study

North West Faculty for Advancing Practice Virtual Information Event- Tuesday 11^th October 2022 

The North West Faculty for Advancing Practice are pleased to announce that it will be hosting a virtual information full day event on Tuesday 11th October 2022.  The event will be aimed at prospective and current ACP trainees, existing Advanced Practitioners, and employing organisations (including primary care practices, service leads & Advanced Practice Leads. The full programme can be found on our events section. 

To register to attend this event please fill in this form. By Friday 30^th September 2022.  

Opportunity to be a Presenter and showcase your work – as part of this event we would like to encourage Trainee and Qualified Advanced Clinical Practitioners to showcase the excellent work being delivered within Advancing Practice.  If you are interested in presenting, then please fill in this short survey to provide a short summary (max 500 words) of an advanced practice service transformation.  This summary must be submitted by 12pm (noon) Friday 9 September 2022 

The summary should highlight how the service has changed or been developed, outcomes and/ or cost savings achieved, and benefits to patients/population. 

Education Providers drop-in sessions – The event will also provide a separate all-day virtual drop in session run by our partner universities highlighting the advanced practice provision offered and any speciality specific pathways.  It will allow employers and prospective trainees an opportunity to ask questions and meet the teams and will operate on a flexible basis in conjunction with our main event . 

Launch of expression of interest waiting list form for funding to commence Spring 2023 

HEE NW Faculty for Advancing Practice are inviting organisations across the north west who would like to submit an Expressions of Interest for Advanced Practitioner funding for 22/23 for programmes commencing January 2023 – March 2023 to be put on our waiting list.  

To request funding please complete this form by 12 noon Monday 3 October 2022. 

Launch of Governance Matrix  

On 13^th July, the Centre held a webinar to share the ACP Governance matrix which has been developed by a team led by James Pratt. 

This is a self-review document to assess where organisations have sufficient support and structures in place and where improvements are identified. 

This is an important development across all areas of Advancing Practice and will be utilised by the Faculty to work with employers to create a safe and supportive environment for patients and ACP practitioners. 

The link to the matrix (as well as a recording of the webinar) is available here. 

If you have any questions regarding the implementation of the matrix into your organisation, please contact the Faculty via acp.nw@hee.nhs.uk 

Celebrating International Paramedic Day 8th July  

In support of Paramedic day, the Faculty would like to share how Scott Murray, Advanced Paramedic Practitioner works across the four pillars of advanced practice at Bay Medical Group. Showcasing how Advanced Practitioners (AP) are integral to contemporary healthcare provision to improve patient access, benefit from senior clinical expertise, and offer holistic patient care for patients’ outcomes.  

Scott Murray – Case Study

Our first webinar looking at the Research Pillar 

The Faculty and the North West Clinical Research Networks (GM & NWC) Workforce, Learning & Development Team recently hosted a webinar which focused on how Advanced Practitioners can incorporate research within their practise. The webinar covered areas such  

– As why research is important and how its organised,  

– How to become research ready and 

– Incorporating research delivery within Advanced Practitioner roles.   

The event was aimed at Trainee and existing advanced practitioners within any clinical setting and was led by Liz Jemmett, Advanced Practice Training Programme Director (Paediatrics & neonates), Seonaid Beddows – Workforce Learning & Development Manager, National Institute for Health Research and Mary Speake – Workforce Learning & Development Lead, National Institute for Health Research. 

A recording of the session will be available shortly.  If you did not register for this event and would like to receive a copy, please contact sarah.hadfield@hee.nhs.uk  

September will see a webinar for Radiographers and Advancing Practice  

The NW Faculty are collaborating with national and regional radiography colleagues to deliver a webinar for service managers / aspiring ACPs to: 

– Highlight the impact of advanced practice roles 

– Showcase case study examples 

– Discuss training routes 

– Benefits for service, staff retention and career pathways. 

A save the date will be sent as soon as dates and plans are finalised for late September.  

Cheshire and Merseyside AP Leads met for the First ICS network mtg 

The Faculty organised the first collaborative Advancing Practice ICS meeting across Cheshire and Merseyside. All Advanced Practice Leads from the NHS Trust and the Primary Care Training hub were invited to listed to the role of the Faculty and our objectives for the year. Debra Allcock also shared the changes to ESR for advancing practice and how the leads could support this within their trusts.  The newly appointed Advanced Practice Lead across Cheshire and Merseyside Sara Dalby will be looking to set this meeting on a regular basis.  

Quality Improvement project and leadership course 

On 29^th June, a celebration event was held in Ellesmere Port showcasing the Professional & Clinical Leadership & QI Development Programme across Cheshire and Mersey.  

The project team was led by Joanne Inman from the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. 

The scheme was a pilot to enable Leadership skills to be combined with QI projects so that the attendees were able to undertake workplace service improvement. 30 students completed the programme and the celebration day included healthcare leaders sharing their career journey. 

Nick had been part of the team that designed the programme and it was felt that this may be a fantastic opportunity for ACP’s to develop Leadership experience and make a positive impact in their workplace. 

It is hoped that this programme may be repeated again soon as it has proved to be very popular and successful. 

Advancing Practice in Learning Disabilities and Autism

In support of Learning Disabilities Week (20th-26th June), the Faculty would like to share how Deepak Agnihotri works across the four pillars of advanced practice to deliver personalised care and support the quality of life of his patients. Deepak is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Learning Disabilities and Autism at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Deepak Agnihotri – Case Study

HEI (Higher Education Institutes) ACP Programme Network

The Faculty meet quarterly with the North West HEIs. This network is to look at collaborative working across the North West.

The last meeting took place on 19 May 2022. The meeting covered:

·      The expression of interest process and looked at any lessons learnt

·       The development of credentials. A HEE subject matter expert attended the meeting to discuss the progress of this area. If you would like further information about the credentials you can access on this website’s credential webpage ,

·      The Faculty is working with the HEI’s in developing a Best Practice Guidelines for recruitment of and supervision for trainees.

NW Faculty for Advancing Practice – Expression of Interest process

The Faculty would like to thank all the organisations that accepted or declined the offer of HEE funding. This enabled us to inform the Universities of their expected numbers and enabled us to provide the unique reference numbers to support them and the organisation through the HEI’s recruitment process.

The Faculty is now working with our Widening Participation team to ensure those organisations that need support for levy transfers or government co-investment funding for their apprenticeship pathway will receive the appropriate support.

In addition, the faculty has reached out to identified workforce priority areas including Primary Care and Learning Disability & Autism.

The Faculty is developing a waiting list expression of interest form and process. This will only be for Spring 2023 intakes. Further details will be shared.

The Faculty yearly workplan

During May our priority has been focussing on how we will be delivering against our yearly workplan. This includes:

–         Workforce Planning, Modelling and Intelligence

–         Monitoring HEE funded trainees

–         Workforce Growth and Education Commissioning

–         Quality

–         Innovation and Modernisation

–         Communications and Engagement

–         Recruitment, Assessment and Supervision

The Faculty is in the process of updating their webpage on the Advancing Practice website that will provide further information.

Meet Sara Dalby – ACP Lead in Cheshire & Merseyside

Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Sara, my background is advanced practice in Surgery.  I have commenced in post as the Advanced Practice Lead across Cheshire and Merseyside. I am very excited to be working with you all to take forward advanced practice across the region along with other members of the NW Regional Faculty for Advancing Practice.

 I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you, understand more about advanced practice in your organisation and discuss how we can work together. Please let me know your availability and I shall book a time in my diary to meet.

If you have any questions or require any additional information please don’t hesitate to contact me at any point. My email is saradalby@liverpoolft.nhs.uk.

NW Regional Faculty for Advancing Practice – highlights 2021/22 

Regional Faculty for Advancing Practice highlights 21-22

NW Faculty for Advancing Practice – Expression of Interest process 

Wednesday 4 May 2022, the Faculty emailed all designated leads/name contact with the outcome of their organisation’s expression of interest submissions.  

Organisations are now required to;

– Accept or decline the offer by mid-May 2022, 

– Commence the recruitment process, 

– Engage with the Programme Lead at the offered University,  

– Liaise with appropriate teams regarding the apprenticeship requirements  

If you have any questions regarding the process, please do contact our email address acp.nw@hee.nhs.uk  

Supporting HEE funded trainees  

Watch this Space – from Autumn 2022 onwards, the faculty will be requesting organisations to provide information about each trainee and their supervisor details. This will enable the faculty to support trainees and gain vital information to understand the Trainee Advanced Practitioner workforce and Clinical Supervisors for Trainee ACPs.  

Case Study – Kay Roscoe 

Kay Roscoe is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Adult Mental Health Services at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. Kay believes that advanced clinical practice helps patients by improving access to robust assessment and treatment plans. It also benefits NHS staff by providing additional clinical leadership and support. Please read Kay’s experience as an Advanced Practitioner

Kay Roscoe – Case Study

Training Programme Directors projects

 All nine Training Programme Directors have been developing projects to improve the experience of Advancing Practice Education. Below provides a snapshot of what each project is about.   

^{Anna Riley – Emergency and surgical care Development of a practice support manual to help trainee ACP’s} 

^{Deepak Agnihotri – Learning Disabilities & Autism Establish a community of practice and quality matrix for LD&A trainee ACP’s} 

^{Jaclyn Proctor – Acute care Gathering evidence from trainee ACP to identify and prioritise quality improvements} 

^{Kay Roscoe – Mental Health – Improving the quality of trainee ACP supervision in mental health across the North West footprint through Action Learning Sets.} 

^{Martin Troedel – Urgent care/MSK Mentorship programme for trainee ACP’s in emergency and urgent care} 

^{Liz Reilly – Primary care – understanding the effectiveness of the tools and resources available for clinical supervisors within the Primary Care setting to confidently undertake their role as Clinical supervisors} 

^{Liz Jemmett – Paediatrics, Women’s Health and Midwifery – Developing a community of advanced practice to support change through research.} 

^{Scott Murray – Primary care – Exploring ACP confidence and development needs for managing key clinical presentations in primary care through the design and implementation of a learning needs analysis tool.}    

^{Tanya Rumney – AHPs Virtual network – to reduce isolation for minority AHP groups into ACP} 

Feedback about our Faculty from key individuals 

The faculty recently invited some key stakeholders to provide feedback around their experience and engagement with the faculty over the last 12 months in the form of an anonymous survey.  The survey was designed to help us understand a wide range of views around areas such as how we are valued, how are goals and objectives are being understood and any challenges which may have been identified. We were delighted to have some fantastic responses which were extremely positive. Some of the feedback received has been included below:-   

“I think the faculty play an important role in the distribution of information from national to regional areas. It also helps with networking and sharing of best practice.” 

“This is a process of development, and the team are working hard to meet the needs of all stakeholders. It’s a relatively new team and I think this will get better as the team evolves” 

“It’s really helpful to have specialists to draw on in the area of Advancing Practice & all the component elements. The EOI process, and the panels for AP has been smooth & well co-ordinated.” 

“much needed leadership for the region and advanced practice growth” 

“Excellent communication and engagement. Responsive supportive and helpful” 

These responses will now help to build continual improvement within our work and ensure we remain committed to delivering our objectives in the best way we can to suit our stakeholders needs. 

North West Expression of Interest for Advanced Practice Programme  

The faculty have been through all the expressions of interest submissions. 11% of the submissions had queries, contact has been made to the identified ACP Lead within the organisation for theses to be resolved. The next phase if for the faculty to discuss the submissions with our internal teams for example the pharmacy team, primary care and the three ICS’s workforce education and transformation teams.  

These meetings will enable us to highlight the submissions and how they align with the strategic direction for Advancing Practice. Showcasing innovative and transformational roles.  

During April the faculty will start to put the processes in place to confirm if the faculty are able to offer a HEE funded place. Decisions will be communicated out as soon as possible, as we appreciate the timeframes required for the recruitment process of trainees.  

If you have any questions in the meantime please email us acp.nw@hee.nhs.uk  

E-Portfolio (Supported) Route  

Recognition of registered health and care practitioners who demonstrate complete fulfilment of the capabilities for Advanced Clinical Practitioners set out in the Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England (HEE 2017) is offered through a number of different routes, via the Centre for Advancing Practice (Centre).   

One of these routes is the ePortfolio (supported) route whereby an individual practitioner already working at an advanced level of practice, but who has not undertaken a HEE accredited ACP programme, is supported by an education provider to produce a portfolio that maps fully to the ACP Framework capabilities. Any identified gaps and learning to achieve successful completion of the portfolio must be within a 12 month period. 

In the North West 127 advanced practitioners submitted applications to be considered for this route and have now progressed to being allocated to an education provider to undertake an initial learning needs analysis against the Multi-professional framework. The NW Faculty for Advancing Practice will work closely with the education providers to support those who may need further learning or experience which could not be completed within a reasonable period (12 months) to support their ongoing educational progress.  

North West Faculty for Advancing Practice: Supervision gap analysis report 

Throughout 2021, Nick Worth and Sarah Hadfield undertook a gap analysis for supervision across the North West. The intention was to establish current situation regarding supervision provision and the support that is required for supervisors and trainees in all healthcare specialties. 

The gap analysis included interviewing ACP Programme Leads from each North West HEI, a selection of employers, supervisors and trainees. The results were then reviewed and collated as a report in order to inform the future focus of the Faculty regarding supervision for ACP trainees. 

The recommendations are: 

– Minimum of one hour per week with named co-ordinating supervisor to be implemented from 22/23 as detailed in the Minimum standard for Supervision Document.

– To use associate supervisors where required to ensure trainee ACPs have the required level of support across all four pillars of advanced practice.

– To develop a best practice guide for employers / organisations of trainee ACPs that gives examples of different models of good quality supervision across the North West region.

– To create a bank of resources for supervisor training regionally in the North West and work with other Supervision and Assessment Leads across HEE to create National supervisor certification.

– To deliver webinars for existing ACPs to discuss supervision and to encourage update of training and use of available resources to equip them with the skills and knowledge to become supervisors for other trainee ACP’s.

– Promote the Faculty commissioning process which includes readiness checklists for employers to be able to support the ACP throughout their training.

– Support the TPD’s to obtain ACP trainee feedback regarding all aspects of training process and employer responsibilities.

The Faculty will prioritise the following areas during 2022 to improve the supervision provision across the region: 

– Pilot the Minimum standard of supervision document in the North West and obtain feedback regarding its implementation 

– Update the ‘Best Practice Guide’ in the North West 

– Collaborate on a National bank of resources to support Supervision training with other regional Faculties.

North West Learning Disability and Autism Scoping Project  – Consultant & Advanced Practitioners  

Sarah Hadfield, Project Support Officer within the team has recently undertaken a 12 week secondment, alongside a subject matter expert, to evaluate the position of Consultant level and Advanced Practitioners across the North West working within Learning Disabilities and/or Autism.  The project looked to understand employer expectations and support, identify existing skills and functions currently being delivered, and highlight any best practices that can be shared within secondary care settings.  The findings would then look to support and inform how HEE can look to increase retention and create clear career pathways for Advanced Practitioner roles within Learning Disabilities and Autism now and in the future. 

A wide stakeholder engagement exercise was carried out to identify numbers of Consultants and Advanced Practitioners within all three regions within the North West.  This data was also able to identify the patient and service users age ranges within this workforce area.  A range of surveys and focus groups were undertaken to identify the skills and functions, challenges, variance, and best practice within these roles.  The report has identified a number of short, medium and long term recommendations for the North West Faculty to work with organisations seeking to develop advanced practice roles to ensure that they meet the patients and service users needs in the best possible way.  

The findings have demonstrated lots of examples around how Advanced Practice has and will have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of Children, Young People, and Adults with a Learning Disability and/ or Autism, however there are also some clear challenges which will need to be addressed.   

Liz Jemmet – Case Study 

Liz Jemmett is a Paediatric Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) in the PANDA Unit in Northern Care Alliance. She has recently joined the North West Faculty for Advancing Practice as one of the newly appointed Training Programme Directors, her expertise in paediatrics is proving extremely beneficial for the faculty. The case study shows how Liz’s role covers the four pillars of Advanced Clinical Practice and how she is able to apply her ACP skills to her day to day role while working as part of a multidisciplinary team. 

Liz Jemmett ACP Case Study.PDF

TPD Face to Face meetings 

We were able to get the TPD’s together for some face to face meetings recently. They were split over two days but it was a great opportunity to get to know each other and plan how the Faculty and TPD’s can work together to continue to support ACP trainees across the region. 

The Faculty gave some updates about the commissioning of ACP places and they had an office induction. The TPD’s gave a summary of their projects and were able to give each other feedback and advice. 

Both days were really productive and enjoyable. 

The TPD’s bring a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to the days and the Faculty are really excited about the amazing range of projects that will go towards the objectives within the region. 

Advancing Practice 2022 – 23 Expression of Interest update  

14^th February 2022 was the closing date of the expressions of interest for HEE funding for 2022- 23 ACP Programmes. Nearly 90% of NHS Trusts within the North West completed a submission. 21% of the submissions were from Primary Care or Private Independent and Voluntary organisations with 79% NHS Trusts. The response has been significant during difficult times for the NHS with the impact of COVID during December 2021, January and February 2022 and the Faculty would like to thank organisations for your commitment in Advancing Practice.  

The Faculty are now reviewing all expressions of interest and if there are any questions we will be contacting the identified person for further information. A decision will be made in April 2022 and communication of outcomes will be shared immediately.  

If you have any queries during this time you are more than welcome to contact the faculty acp.nw@hee.nhs.uk  

Susan Fletcher – Case Study 

Susan Fletcher is an ACP in Stroke Services. This case study provides a great example of how an Occupational Therapist is working as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner and how Susan’s role covers the four pillars of Advanced Clinical Practice: Clinical, Leadership, Education and Research.  

Case-Study-Susan-Fletcher-PDF-2Download 

Learning Disability and Autism, North West Advanced and Consultant practice scoping review: 

The team are pleased to announce that Sarah Hadfield, Project Support Officer within the team has recently been successful in securing a 12 week secondment which will deliver a scoping project to evaluate the position of Consultant level and Advanced Practitioners across the North West working within Learning Disabilities and/or Autism.  The role will be carried out for a duration of 3 days per week, alongside Sarah’s substantive role.  The project will look to understand employer expectations and support, identify existing skills and functions currently being delivered and understand any best practices that can be shared and learned within secondary care settings.   

One year on – The North West Faculty for Advancing Practice 

It has been one year since the NW Regional Faculty was established with the team slowly growing over the last 12 months. The Faculty have overcome the challenges of establishing a completely new team in a virtual world working remotely due to the pandemic. 

The Faculty now consists of 7 core team members, and 9 Training Programme Directors (TPD) on a 12 month secondment post. The TPD’s are speciality advisors who are engaging with trainee ACPs and their supervisors to develop collaborative working with the Faculty, strengthen feedback mechanisms and identify areas in which the Faculty can support organisations and our HEIs to improve the training experience for ACPs. 

The priorities over the last year have been to understand and address the region’s workforce needs, provide regional leadership, commission high quality education and training, align commissioning with national standards, support education providers to gain Centre accreditation and to explore the supervision needs for the advanced practice workforce. 

Progress has been made possible through the close collaboration with other HEE regional teams and their expertise, and our external stakeholders. Key achievements include:  

– Scoping of the advanced practice primary care workforce and the identification of training needs, to be able to support those eligible through an e-Portfolio route for recognition of advanced level practice 

– The delivery of a series of webinars to engage with multi-professional stakeholders  

– The development and implementation of a revised process to identify workforce demand for 22-23  

– Establishment of a baseline of advanced practitioners across primary and secondary care 

– Accreditation of 3 HEI’s by the Centre for Advancing Practice with the remaining 7 all working towards accreditation over the next 18 months  

– The development of a NW HEI ACP network 

– Engagement and leadership at ICS level with the establishment of ACP Lead networks in two systems and a project lead to develop C&M 

Building a recognised and visible advanced practitioner workforce is a priority for the NHS. There is a clear and identified need for highly experienced clinicians trained to an advanced level of practice. The Regional Faculty in collaboration with the Centre for Advancing Practice are driving pioneering workforce transformation for advanced practice across England.  

The vision of the NW Regional Faculty is: To create and enable transformative partnerships to develop, embed and sustain Advanced Practitioners across the NW region who are fit for 21st century care and that appropriate use is made of their skills and expertise across an evolving health and social care system. 

Greater Manchester’s Advanced Clinical Practitioner Employer Awareness Event  

On Monday 17^th January, Greater Manchester delivered an ACP employer event. This was to support employers to understand the funding available for the Advanced Practice Master’s programme. The virtual event covered A regional perspective on commissioning and funding for ACP training that Debra Allcock presented. Following Debra’s presentation other key speakers covered: 

– apprenticeship overview,

– apprenticeship – financial aspects,  

– writing a business case and  

– the trainee ACP in Primary Care.  

Delivering a Master Class in the Learning Disability and Autism ACP Credential 

Debra Allcock delivered a Master Class to the trainees on the  Edge Hill University and University of Cumbria’s Learning Disability and Autism ACP Credential course. The Master Class covered:  

– personalised care,  

– support plans and supported self-management 

– social prescribing and capacity building. 

The Edge Hill University’s students followed on with a discussion seminar looking at some of the posed questions and discussion points that was flagged in the Master Class. They started to pull out ethical issues associated with building capacity in the system and out in the communities.  

GM ACP Workplace Supervision Study Day 

On 31^st January, the Greater Manchester ACP group held a supervision study day. 

The Faculty were invited to speak at the event and Nick Worth discussed the support for supervision that is being developed both regionally and nationally. 

It was an opportunity to introduce the new TPD team to those attending and build some new working relationships across Greater Manchester and beyond! 

A range of speakers discussed what it takes to evidence working at an advanced level and how to demonstrate ‘level 7’ learning in all 4 pillars of ACP. 

The opportunity to understand the challenges for ACP’s both in training and post-qualification surrounding supervision will help inform the future work within the Faculty in collaboration with the Greater Manchester ACP group. 

The North West Faculty for Advancing Practice have now recruited all their Training Programme Directors:  

In early December, the Faculty welcomed the first of the Training Programme Directors (TPD’s) into HEE.  

The TPD’s are Specialty Advisors that will support ACP trainees across the region and will work on projects to improve the provision and delivery of training in all health care settings. 

The TPD’s that are joining the Faculty are: 

Anna Riley – Surgery – started Dec 2021  

Tanya Rumney – Allied Health professions – started Dec 2021 

Martin Troedel – Urgent/emergency care, MSK and Frailty – started Jan 2022 

Deepak Agnihotri – Learning Disability and Autism – started Jan 2022 

Jaclyn Proctor – Medical/Respiratory – starting Feb 2022 

Liz Jemmett – Paediatrics, Women’s Health and Midwifery – started Jan 2022 

Liz Reilly – Primary care and Community – starting Feb 2022 

Scott Murray – Primary care – start date TBC 

Kay Roscoe – Mental Health – start date TBC 

The launch of the Demand Led process for HEE funding for a ACP MSc programme 

On Tuesday 4^th January 2022, The faculty sent emails to key individuals to provide them details of how their organisations can express their interest for HEE funding for an ACP MSc programme. 

Emails were sent to  

NHS Trust’s designated lead. This is the organisation’s strategic lead. Any service ACP Leads or site ACP leads must submit their requests via their internal process. HEE will only be accepting the submissions from the identified ACP Lead. Please do contact us on acp.nw@hee.nhs.uk  

Primary Care Training Hub ACP Leads – asking them to distribute the email to primary care organisations with a link to our webpage with all supporting documentation.  

Contacts from our sign-up database – with a link to our webpage.  

If you still have questions regarding the process, please do contact the faculty.  

During Advanced Practice Week (7-13 November), the Faculty for Advancing Practice across the north west, along with several regional advanced clinical practitioners (ACP) and leads delivered presentations at HEE’s Centre for Advancing Practice Virtual Conference 2021.

The four-day conference began on Monday 8 November and was held under the theme “Extraordinary People, Extraordinary care.”

Annabella Gloster, Regional Faculty Lead at the Faculty for Advancing Practice, delivered a presentation on influencing change across the region. Annabella delivered the session along with Diane Reid, Chair of the Greater Manchester Strategic ACP group, and Tracy Earley and Jill Billington, Chair and Deputy Chair of the Lancashire and South Cumbria ACP leads group.

The presentations gave an overview of the collaborative working between the faculty and Integrated Care Systems with details of ongoing workstreams and plans to develop a strategic group across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Lorraine Turner, Consultant Nurse Practitioner at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Emma Forster, Tracheostomy Specialist and Lead Practitioner, and Catherine Edwards, Advanced Specialist Practitioner (both at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), also presented at the national conference highlighting the impact of their work as ACPs in clinical research and supporting COVID 19 recovery.

The Regional Faculty also delivered presentations at other north west events on the progress and vision of the faculty which was formed in January this year.

This included celebratory events at Go-To-Doc, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and a virtual event hosted at Blackpool NHS Foundation Trust. The events were inspiring for employers, aspiring ACPs and celebrated the diversity, value and impact of ACPs in service transformation and patient care.

Webinars 

The faculty for advancing practice has recently hosted a series of webinars throughout October and November to explain the role the Faculty provides and the educational pathways and training in place for trainee and existing Advanced Practitioners.  The webinars also focused around speciality areas of clinical practice including Mental Health, Pharmacy and Primary Care which showcased the benefits Advancing Practice can provide within these and other areas.   

All of our webinars are available on our page. 

Faculty and Primary Care Training Hubs scoping the ACP workforce in Primary Care

The Faculty for Advancing Practice and the three northwest Primary Care Training Hubs are working collaboratively to ensure all nurses, AHPs and pharmacists currently working at an advanced level have the opportunity to evidence and/or develop themselves against the multi-professional framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England.

During August and September 2021 nurses, AHP’s and Pharmacists who identified as an advanced practitioner in primary care were asked to complete a survey for us to understand how their experience and qualification/s meet the multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice for England.

The Results

There was a total of 349 eligible respondents. The breakdown for each ICS area is below:

Cheshire and Merseyside – 127

Greater Manchester – 120

Lancashire and South Cumbria – 97

North West – 5

Qualifications

162 had completed a MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice, 76 has completed another masters, 26 were currently undertaking the MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice, 85 had not completed a MSc and 10 of those were looking to commit to a MSc in the next 12 months.

NETs Survey results

The analysis of the NETS survey results from June/July 2021 were shared by the Quality team recently.

In the North West, 5 Trusts reached the threshold number of responses to be able to assess the student experiences within them.

The response rate for ACP’s across the North West increased from 9 in the previous survey to 44 this time around (the second highest in the country!).

From the responses analysed there were no Trusts in our region which raised concern however due to the way the tool requires a minimum threshold of responses, there may be areas that have not been identified and where the Faculty needs to provide extra support now or in the future.

We will continue to help promote the NETs survey as an important information gathering tool to help inform the Faculty about the standards of training that an ACP who is studying experiences.

The next NETs survey is now live and can be found https://poll.hee.nhs.uk/s/netsnov21/

Supervision for ACP trainees  – A Gap Analysis

Nick and Sarah from the Faculty are conducting a gap analysis of the supervision for trainee ACP’s across the North West.

Over the past month, they have interviewed several ACP Programme Leads to obtain the HEI’s views regarding the supervision of their trainees. The aim is to complete all interviews with the remaining programme leads in the coming weeks.

Following this, the Faculty will seek feedback from Trusts, existing Supervisors and Trainees about their experiences of supervision in practice.

The combined analysis will help to inform the priorities required to support trainee ACP’s and supervisors across the region. The Faculty will continue to work collaboratively with our stakeholders to drive improvements for existing and future trainees.

We really appreciate the support and engagement with this work and will share the results and plans across the region in the New Year.

Advanced Clinical Practice Demand-Led process for 22/23 cohorts

The Faculty are leading on the Expression of Interest process for organisations requesting funding for the ACP MSc programme. The process this year will be looking at how we can best support our organisations NHS Trusts, Primary Care and the Private, Independent and Voluntary sectors.

Expressions of Interest must be completed by organisations and not potential students. The Faculty are recommending organisations to have appropriate internal processes in place for Advanced Clinical Practitioners and are providing supporting tools for organisations to utilise.

Below are key dates:

November 2021 – Get Ready emails will be going out to identified ACP Leads or the designated individual overseeing advance practice

November 2021 – Communications to reach Primary Care and Private, Independent and Voluntary organisations where we do not have an identified lead

Tuesday 4^th January 2022 – Emails with the link to the Expression of Interest form will be shared

Monday 14^th February 2022 – Closing date for Expression of Interest form

April 2022 – Organisations will be advised of the outcome of the funding allocation

May 2022 – mid August 2022 – Organisations to complete recruitment process

If you are a Service Lead, a Directorate Manager or someone who is looking to become an Advanced Practitioner please do seek advice from your ACP Lead within your organisation or please contact the Faculty for us to direct you to the right person. Acp.nw@hee.nhs.uk

Webinars

During October and November, the Faculty for Advancing practice are delivering a series of webinars. If you have missed those webinars, you will be able to view the recording on our webpage.

For the webinars that have not yet taken place, please email acp.nw@hee.nhs.uk  for the link to register to attend.

Future Horizon’s Conference – Annabella was the keynote Speaker

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) hosted their first regional advanced practice conference: Advancing Practice – future horizons, innovations and best practice on 10^th September.

Professor Raphaela Kane opened the conference highlighting the importance of the need to demonstrate continuous service improvement and quality through advanced practice.

Annabella Gloster – NW Regional Faculty lead was the keynote speaker and shared her personal journey and a historical perspective of Advanced Practice in the UK. Annabella expressed the need to continue to nurture the adaptability and leadership of advanced practitioners to enable them to drive evidence-based research, inspire and educate the future workforce and to utilise the evidence to ensure our patients are getting best evidence-based care. ACP’s are providing the solution to our future healthcare system and they need to continue to inspire, innovate and influence in this role.

The event had a range of speakers with videos of individual ACP’s sharing ‘a day in the life of an ACP’; innovation in a virtual world through adapting the assessment of trainee ACPs and an overwhelming theme of the need for more research and time allowed for ACP’s to enact this pillar to develop and strengthen the evidence base.

The event was a huge success with over 400 delegates registered for the event .

GM Primary Care Training Hub Conference

On 15^th September Nick Worth and Liam Hagerty represented the Faculty at the Greater Manchester Training Hub annual conference.

This face-to-face conference was enabling AHP’s and Nurses to come together to network and gain  educational updates from a wide range of speakers. The event was attended by over 120 delegates on each of the two days  (14^th/15^th September) it was held at the Kings House Conference Centre.

Nick and Liam had a stand and enjoyed speaking to the delegates and answering all of their ACP related questions. It was great meeting people who had only previously been ‘virtual connections’.

The Faculty look forward to attending more of these type of events in the future as restrictions allow.

Recruitment of TPD and their role

The Faculty have been advertising for up to 10 Training Programme Director (TPD’s) secondment opportunities to assist in the support of all ACP trainees. The TPD job advertisement closed on 26^th September and interviews are scheduled for mid-October with a proposed start date towards the end of 2021.

The TPD’s will be specialty advisors and the ‘eyes and ears’ of the Faculty across the North West, helping to make the training of the ACP’s as productive and supportive as possible.

The plan is to recruit the TPD’s to cover the wide range of ACP trainees in all healthcare sectors and will play a major part in shaping the future of ACP training in the North West.

Each regional Faculty for Advancing Practice is looking to recruit into similar roles, but the North West region had led the way in developing the job role.

There has been a lot of interest in these positions and we hope that they can provide some exciting opportunities for the successful candidates – watch out for future updates!

Meet our new team member

Catherine Gregg – Administrative Support: Since September 201 Catherine has worked in the Finance Litigation team at DWF Law LLP. During this time she obtained a certificate in higher education in Legal Studies. Catherine started her legal career as an apprentice but secured a promotion to a Paralegal role. Through excelling in this role Catherine was subsequently promoted to a Legal Delivery Team Lead in October 2020. However, it became apparent that this career path was no longer the route she wished to pursue and better suited to a more rewarding career.

Therefore, the opportunity at HEE was perfect for Catherine’s ambitions and feels that her experience, aspirations and character will have a positive impact on the faculty. Catherine is really looking forward to the future with the team.

Reviewing the process for funding ACP programmes

The Faculty for Advancing Practice across the North West has been working closely with all key stakeholders to review current processes for approval of funding for ACP’s in order to prepare to transition to a national process by 2023/24. This will ensure the right measures are put in place for and how improvements can be made to support organisations with workforce planning, service need, timely recruitment and support for ACP trainees. Below is our roadmap for the initial review, and plan to commence working groups to make improvements to our process with dissemination to begin in Autumn 2021.

Roadmap

Road map *written version of the graphic

1. Jan – April: Faculty observe 21 EOI

2. Apr – May: Review principles document with commissioning team

3. May: Draft transition plan

4. Jun – Jul: Meeting with each ICS team and commissioning team

5. Jul – Aug: Develop process map

6. Aug: Meeting with all teams to review process map

7. Oct: Sign off process map

8. Oct: Set up task and finish group for identified quality improvements

Supporting our ACP trainee – NETS

The National Education and Training Survey (NETS) was open from 22 June and 23 July 2021.

The North West Regional response rate was greatly increased within advanced practice trainees for this edition of the survey.

A massive thank you to all of the ACP trainees in the region that completed the survey – a breakdown of the responses are:

246 AP learners answered across the whole of HEE

44 (18%) of those were from the North West

In the regions ‘response chart’, we came second overall!  The previous time the survey was conducted, there were only nine North West AP responses from a National total of 115.

The survey results will be published in early September and will make a real difference to ACP trainees and the support they receive. It informs where resources from HEE are placed and identifies where extra support may be required.

The next NETS is planned for November 2021, so keep a lookout via the HEE communications on social media for when it opens – it’s the opportunity for you to have your say about your ACP training!

Supervision for ACPs

The Centre for Advancing Practice has created some short video resources to accompany the ‘Workplace Supervision for Advanced Clinical Practice: An integrated multi-professional approach for practitioner development’ guidance. The videos provide practice insights for each of the fundamentals of supervision set out in the guidance and are a useful resource for everyone who is either developing or providing supervision for trainee advanced practitioners.

Are you an ACP Lead trying to develop good supervision practice in your organisation?

Have you been asked to supervise a trainee ACP and want some more guidance about the role?

Are you interested in how to ensure the best practice for supervision?

The links to the videos can be found on the Centre for Advancing Practice website under resources.

Meet our new team members

Sarah Hadfield – Programme Support Officer: Sarah joined the Faculty in June 2021 and will support the delivery and implementation of the Faculty’s objectives, its projects & initiatives and the recruitment, assessment and supervision of advanced practice trainees within the region.  Sarah joined the NHS in 2003 and has worked within Primary Care Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups up until her appointment with HEE.  Sarah is passionate and committed to ensuring better outcomes for patients, and is also currently undertaking an APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ).

Liam Hagerty – Administrative Support: Liam joined the Faculty for Advancing Practice in July 2021 as the Administrative Support for the team. He will be responsible for administrative duties and ensuring the faculty operates smoothly. Liam graduated from Liverpool Hope University in 2018, studying Human Biology and Sociology. He went on to find employment with Bradford District Care Trust where he worked as an administrator for various community services, such as the Podiatry and Palliative services. Seeing how these services work, and hearing first-hand how patients are affected by them, led to his drive to improve the patient journey. During the pandemic, Liam moved from Bradford to Manchester, where he was able to find a new challenge in his new employment by Health Education England.

Communication and Engagement

The Faculty’s First workshop at Cheshire & Merseyside’s People Summit: The Faculty for Advancing Practice across the North West (NW) delivered a workshop at the first virtual Cheshire and Merseyside People Summit in June. An overview of the faculty with our vision, and priorities for the next year and how they relate to the People Plan was presented along with case studies of the impact of advanced practice and lessons learned during the pandemic.

An ACP working in primary Care specialising in mental health joined us to share their journey and role to showcase how services can be transformed and enable a workforce that is fit for the future. The workshop concluded with participants invited to share their hopes and challenges and a pledge to commit to support the development of a workforce with ACPs.

Annabella Gloster, Keynote Speaker at East Lancashire Hospitals and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s First ACP CPD Event: Annabella, NW Regional Faculty Lead, delivered the vision and ambitions of the Faculty across the NW for advancing practice. The event had a range of clinical workshops to attend (virtually) delivered by a range of experts and concluded with a best poster award submitted by practitioners (trainees and ACPs) at this event. All submitted posters evidenced innovative and inspiring pieces of work. The event was a huge success with excellent feedback from those who attended and a need to hold another event in the future as it had a positive impact on their learning and development.

Developing our Collaborative North West ACP HEI Network: The Faculty is very happy to announce that the development of an NW ACP HEI network. This network will be a powerful and key group in pushing ACP learning forwards in the coming years.

This network is to enable the NW HEI’s to come together to share experiences and challenges that come with running ACP programmes. It encourages open discussion and the ability to ask each other questions in order to improve the ACP Trainees opportunities to develop.

The first meeting was held virtually on 30 June 2021. Every HEI in the region were represented, largely by the ACP programme Leads. It involved a great discussion about setting standards for Supervision within their programmes and identify ways of supporting the Supervisors and Trainees in practice.

The next meeting is planned for the beginning of September when the topic of the meeting will be the HEE’s accreditation process for ACP programmes.