Enhanced Clinical PractitionerNHS

Job summary

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Enhanced Clinical Practitioner to join our Virtual Wards service. This is an exciting opportunity to work autonomously within a developing city-wide model that delivers acute-level care to patients in their own homes, supporting admission avoidance and early supported discharge.

This is a dynamic and rewarding role that offers the opportunity to work at the interface of community and secondary care, managing acutely unwell patients with complex needs. The ECP will be instrumental in delivering safe, effective, and person-centred care to patients who would otherwise require hospital admission.

There is the potential for this to be a trainee/ developmental role for the right candidate.

You will be part of a highly skilled multidisciplinary team, working across organisational boundaries with acute, community, primary care and specialist services to deliver safe, evidence-based care. The role offers variety, professional challenge and the opportunity to influence service development within a digitally enabled model of care.

This is a full-time position, with the service operating on a rota basis from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week. The ECP will be expected to work flexibly across various pathways, including frailty, respiratory, palliative, and long-term conditions, ensuring a robust and responsive service offer.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide advanced clinical assessment, diagnosis and treatment for patients within the Virtual Ward, working autonomously and managing risk in complex and unpredictable situations. You will triage referrals, coordinate care across partners, and support patients with acute and long-term conditions to remain safely at home.

The role requires strong clinical judgement, effective communication, and collaboration with multidisciplinary teams including medical, nursing, AHP and social care colleagues. You will contribute to pathway development, quality improvement and service evaluation, supporting the ongoing delivery of virtual ward care through digital technology, evidence-based practice and a person-centred approach.

Key duties include prescribing and reviewing medications and managing conditions such as frailty, respiratory illness and palliative care needs. You will act as a clinical advisor, support care transitions, and contribute to service redesign. You will also promote learning through teaching, supervision and mentorship.

Job description

Job Purpose

• Virtual wards support patients, who would otherwise be in hospital, to get the acute care, remote monitoring, and treatment they need in their own home.
• Patients are supported with a range of acute conditions to prevent unnecessary admissions and to reduce length of stay where the patient has been identified in the hospital, whilst maintaining the same level of support and care the person would have received in an acute bed.

The post holder will work within locally and nationally agreed protocols and guidelines to provide assessment, investigation, diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment planning, supporting admission avoidance and facilitation of early hospital discharge for patients referred to our Virtual Ward Hub and supporting patients who require acute level care delivered within their own home environment.

Enhanced practice is delivered by an experienced, registered health practitioner. It is a level of practice characterised by those working with autonomy and working independently- in complex areas and managing day to day risks.

Enhanced level practice can be a precursor or preparation for advanced level practice, but equally it can be a destination level of practice where people want to stay.

Enhanced practice embodies the ability to manage clinical care in partnership with individuals, families, and carers. It includes the analysis and synthesis of complex problems across a range of settings, enabling innovative solutions to enhance peoples experience and improve outcomes, where complex clinical decision making is needed but may be supported by an overall plan from specialist or advanced clinicians in the area.

This definition therefore requires that health and care professionals working at the level of enhanced clinical practice will exercise autonomy and decision making in a context of complexity, uncertainty, and varying levels of risk but may defer for an overall plan as required.

The post holder will be part of a Rota to cover the service which will run 8am-8pm, 7 days per week.

Dimensions

The post holder will work closely with the ACP, medical, nursing, therapy, and clinical support services to ensure that patients receive appropriate interventions, investigations, and treatment with minimal delay.

The ECP will provide a high level of expert clinical care and ensure that evidence-based practice is inherent in all aspects of care and treatment. You will work as an integral part of the multidisciplinary team, working closely with acute and community practitioners, taking referrals from Primary and Secondary Care across Nottingham City, and reviewing patients who can be managed at home.

The role offers an exciting opportunity to be part of a developing service model, working in the virtual ward providing acute care within the community. This role will work flexibly and across key services including Frailty, palliative, respiratory and community services (GP, UCR, NEMs, Consultant, Community Nurses), to ensure robust service offer and to build expertise in these key areas.

The role responsibilities will include:

• Triage of patients referred to the virtual ward hub highlighting clinical need, initiating treatment, and making referrals to senior medical or specialty colleagues as required.
• Initiating referrals and managing the discharge of patients with the digital provider supporting the Virtual Ward programme.
• Liaising with the relevant senior medical, nursing, allied health professionals (AHPs) and pharmacy teams and stakeholders across the Integrated Care System (ICS) e.g. GPs, community / primary care network pharmacists, district nurses & social workers to promote safe, evidence-based delivery of care within the medical division virtual ward pathways.
• To work closely with the consultant clinical lead for virtual wards, community teams, and specialty teams in the acute to develop and support a range of virtual ward pathways.
• To co-ordinate the planning, development, management, and provision of the virtual ward and its connections with both the acute step down pathway and community step up pathway bridging the transition between acute and community care.
• Working autonomously, assessing individual patient needs, initiating investigations, determining a differential diagnosis, and initiating appropriate, evidence-based treatment and care within scope of practice.
• Act as a resource for all members of the multi-disciplinary team, providing expert advice in all aspects of patient management.
• Putting the patient at the centre, reinforcing the concept of a streamline patient journey, improving total patient experience. The role will involve cross-boundary and inter-agency working.
• Working with our clinical leads and integrated Multidisciplinary teams across organisations to develop the model for NHS virtual ward within CityCare.
• Incorporating digital capabilities with the efficient use of technology to support clinical decision making.
• To ensure adherence with policies and procedures for all aspects of the service.
• Lead on audits and quality improvements projects and in supporting the evaluation and benefits realisation process within the virtual wards at a system level.

Key Responsibilities

Please see the attached full Job Description

About us

We are a provider of NHS Community Health Services, CityCare exists to support the health and wellbeing of all local people, working alongside other health and care partners to achieve this. We are a value driven, people business with a passion for excellence. Our vision and social purpose is to make a difference everyday to the health & wellbeing of our communities and our values of kindness, respect, trust and honesty lie at the heart of everything we do, guiding how we work together with partners and each other to consistently deliver high quality compassionate care. As a social enterprise we aim to add social value by investing in the future of our local communities and helping to make a difference in peoples lives.

CityCare value the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce. We encourage applications from candidates who identify as disabled, LGBT+ or from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) background, as they are currently under-represented within our organisation.

We are proud to be a forces-friendly organisation and are dedicated to supporting Veterans, Service Leavers, Reservists, and military spouses/partners. We value the unique skills and contributions you bring.

CityCare is an equal opportunities employer. We are positive about employing people with disabilities. If you require your application in a different format please contact People Services on 0115 8839418. CityCare is committed to the protection of vulnerable adults and children.