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Provide a high standard of health care using judgment, skills, and knowledge.
This occupation is found in the health and care sector. Enhanced Clinical Practitioners are qualified health and social care professionals who are working at an enhanced level of practice with specific knowledge and skills in a field of expertise. They manage a discrete aspect of a patient’s care within their current level of practice, which will be particular to a specific context, be it a client group, a skill set or an organisational context. This is in contrast to Advanced Clinical Practitioners who have developed their knowledge and skills to an advanced level of practice and would manage the whole episode of a patient’s clinical care, from the time they first present, through to the end of the episode.
Enhanced Clinical Practitioners work as part of a multi-disciplinary clinical team across a wide range of settings, including hospitals, community clinics, individual’s homes and in dental and general practices. Specific examples of settings in which Enhanced Clinical Practitioners work include critical care units providing complex interventions to critically ill patients, GP premises providing specialist services for patients in the community and Children and Families Services units within a local council providing therapeutic interventions to children, young people and their families.
The broad purpose of the occupation is to provide a high standard of complex, enhanced care for patients, using enhanced levels of clinical judgement, skills and knowledge. Enhanced Clinical Practitioners will consult with patients, their family, carers and the multi-professional team to undertake assessments of patient need and devise and evaluate complex care plans related to their field of expertise, for example renal care, critical care, child psychotherapy, diabetes. They critically evaluate and analyse clinical problems using their expertise and clinical knowledge, seeking out and applying relevant evidence, enhanced clinical assessments, diagnostics, interventions, and equipment to make clinical decisions.
Enhanced Clinical Practitioners deliver complex clinical care in the context of continual change, challenging environments, different models of care delivery, innovation and rapidly evolving technologies using critical analysis and their underpinning knowledge to manage complex interventions. They teach and advise patients and their families/carers on how to manage their condition or support the multi-disciplinary team to do so. They participate in clinical audits and research projects and implement changes as required, including the development and updating of practice protocols/guidelines and procedures. They will work within national and local protocols where these exist. They continuously update their knowledge and enhance their clinical practice and provide support, mentoring and supervision of others. They recognise and work within the boundaries of their practice, knowing when and who to refer patients to. They may delegate work to other members of the multidisciplinary team and take accountability for the delegated activity.
In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with:
An employee in this occupation will be responsible for:
Enhanced Clinical Practitioners must be registered with either one of the statutory healthcare regulators, Social Work England or with one of the following accredited voluntary registers: The Academy for Healthcare Science, Register of Clinical Technologists or Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists. They must undertake revalidation processes or audit of their continuing professional development where these apply.
| Duty | KSBs |
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Duty 1 Be an accountable professional acting in the best interests of people, putting them first and providing complex clinical care that is evidence-based, person-centred, safe and compassionate. |
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Duty 2 Use existing knowledge and expertise and enhanced levels of clinical judgement to independently undertake complex and holistic assessments. |
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Duty 3 Act independently to plan, deliver, monitor and evaluate complex care using enhanced clinical assessments, diagnostics, and interventions. |
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Duty 4 Act as an expert resource within their own organisation and for external agencies. |
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Duty 5 Develop, deliver and evaluate education and training opportunities for others within own scope of practice. |
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Duty 6 Communicate effectively in challenging environments and situations with patients, their families/carers and the multi-disciplinary team. |
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Duty 7 Promote and encourage innovative clinical practice to support a culture of excellence within the wider health and care team. |
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Duty 8 Lead and manage unpredictable and unplanned clinical situations. |
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Duty 9 Participate in resource management, strategic service development, planning and service improvement. |
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Duty 10 Lead, monitor, develop and appraise staff and learners. |
K1: Tools and techniques used to systematically search, select and present evidence
Back to Duty
K2: Techniques to critically appraise evidence such as local and national quality standards and frameworks and ways to relate this to own practice
Back to Duty
K3: Requirements of their on-going professional registration and code of conduct in relation to their scope of practice such as when and how to escalate or refer in line with defined scope of practice
Back to Duty
K4: How to appraise the relevance of available tools and techniques to the clinical situation and own scope of practice
Back to Duty
K5: Legislation, clinical frameworks, contemporaneous evidence-based practice guidelines, outcomes from clinical audit and algorithms to support decision making
Back to Duty
K6: Anatomy and physiology and pathophysiology to support complex holistic patient assessment including the underlying psychological, social and long-term impact of illness
Back to Duty
K7: Tools and techniques to critically evaluate clinical information to inform decision making and care management planning
Back to Duty
K8: Underpinning anatomy and complex applied physiology, disease, toxicities, treatments and interventions which guide the selection of specialist diagnostics
Back to Duty
K9: Methods to support complex intervention decision making aligned to national and international guidelines
Back to Duty
K10: Principles and theories of co-production, health coaching, peer support and self-management used to build knowledge, skills and confidence to enable patient self-management
Back to Duty
K11: Diverse sources of information and evidence to underpin decision making and techniques to interpret and assimilate a diverse range of information and evidence
Back to Duty
K12: Principles and theories of coaching used in supporting others in complex clinical decision making and care delivery
Back to Duty
K13: Principles and theories of leadership and role modelling
Back to Duty
K14: Tools and procedures for conducting a training needs analysis
Back to Duty
K15: Teaching, learning and assessment theories, techniques, innovations and models relevant to the educational activity including ways to facilitate a positive learning environment
Back to Duty
K16: Models, tools and frameworks for receiving and providing constructive feedback
Back to Duty
K17: Principles of different communication strategies and theories, communication modes (written, digital, verbal, non-verbal) and clinical communication tools
Back to Duty
K18: Models and theories for negotiating and mediating, such as de-escalation and diffusing strategies
Back to Duty
K19: Communication strategies and tools used to share complex information with different audiences and individuals
Back to Duty
K20: Principles of change management and co-production to support clinical innovation in the workplace
Back to Duty
K21: Local and national approaches and planning processes to support quality improvement
Back to Duty
K22: Service evaluation, research and audit techniques to support quality improvement processes within area of enhanced clinical practice
Back to Duty
K23: The role and impact of reflection in improving clinical practice and best-practice methods for clinical supervision
Back to Duty
K24: Signs and pathophysiology of deterioration or distress in mental, physical, cognitive and behavioural health in own scope of practice
Back to Duty
K25: Protocols and systems used to plan, prioritise and direct resources within area of enhanced clinical practice and how to escalate to and engage others when working at the boundaries of scope of practice
Back to Duty
K26: Evidence-based strategies to manage clinical risk in enhanced clinical practice
Back to Duty
K27: Principles of psychological well-being, the importance of maintaining own and others well-being and counselling techniques used within own scope of practice
Back to Duty
K28: Employer policy and procedures for resource management and reporting
Back to Duty
K29: Strategies to plan and prioritise resources and manage immediate and longer-term service requirements
Back to Duty
K30: Local, regional, and national strategic priorities for patient populations within area of specialist practice
Back to Duty
K31: Principles of mentoring and preceptorship and how these differ from counselling, coaching and teaching
Back to Duty
K32: Local appraisal policy and systems and own responsibility in relation to appraisal of others
Back to Duty
S1: Conduct systematic literature searches to source evidence to inform enhanced clinical practice
Back to Duty
S2: Critically appraise evidence and use findings to plan and provide enhanced patient-centred clinical care
Back to Duty
S3: Provide enhanced clinical care in line with professional registration, code of conduct and defined scope of practice, being responsible and accountable for own decisions, actions and omissions
Back to Duty
S4: Select available tools, technologies and techniques needed to perform complex and holistic assessments
Back to Duty
S5: Assimilate, synthesise and apply complex information to promote and advocate best interests of others, upholding the principles of safeguarding and evidence-based practice
Back to Duty
S6: Undertake holistic patient-centred assessments using available tools, technologies and techniques
Back to Duty
S7: Analyse the data arising from the assessment process to inform clinical decision-making
Back to Duty
S8: Identify, request and interpret specialist diagnostics within own scope of practice to inform the delivery and management of specialist care for patients and families
Back to Duty
S9: Develop, implement and evaluate an enhanced care management plan which may include interventions and referral to other members of the multidisciplinary team or other agencies
Back to Duty
S10: Prepare and support patients and families to manage their own health and care as independently as possible
Back to Duty
S11: Interpret, assimilate and draw conclusions using diverse sources of information and evidence to inform clinical reasoning
Back to Duty
S12: Direct others to sources of information and evidence, coaching and supporting them in applying information and evidence in complex clinical decision making
Back to Duty
S13: Provide leadership within scope of own role and positive role-modelling for others in the multidisciplinary team
Back to Duty
S14: Identify training and education needs of others in the workplace
Back to Duty
S15: Plan and facilitate the delivery of practice-based education, training and assessment activities
Back to Duty
S16: Evaluate the effectiveness of training and education activities
Back to Duty
S17: Use communication strategies suitable for a variety of situations including sensitive and distressing topics
Back to Duty
S18: Use strategies to manage conflict and challenge
Back to Duty
S19: Discuss complex information with patients, their families, the multi-disciplinary team and other agencies
Back to Duty
S20: Challenge ineffective systems and processes and support others to identify the need for change within their area of enhanced clinical practice
Back to Duty
S21: Contribute to quality improvement plans and strategies to support a culture of continuous quality improvement within area of enhanced clinical practice
Back to Duty
S22: Participate in quality improvement activities, such as audit, service evaluations and research projects within area of enhanced clinical practice
Back to Duty
S23: Reflect on own and others’ practice using clinical supervision processes
Back to Duty
S24: Identify and act on evidence of unexpected change or patient deterioration within own scope of practice
Back to Duty
S25: Manage self and others in unpredictable and complex environments, instigating clinical interventions where protocols may not be available
Back to Duty
S26: Identify and manage risk to patient safety and others in an unpredictable and complex environment
Back to Duty
S27: Counsel patients, family, carers and others to manage psychological well-being of self and others
Back to Duty
S28: Contribute to efficient resource management within the workplace
Back to Duty
S29: Plan, prioritise and deliver enhanced clinical care within a defined resource
Back to Duty
S30: Contribute to the drafting of business cases or project proposals
Back to Duty
S31: Provide mentorship, opportunity for peer-learning and constructive feedback to guide, support, motivate and develop others in the multidisciplinary team
Back to Duty
S32: Contribute to the appraisal of individuals in the multidisciplinary team
Back to Duty
B1: Treat people with dignity, respecting individual's diversity, beliefs, culture, needs, values, privacy and preferences
Back to Duty
B2: Show respect and empathy for those you work with
Back to Duty
B3: Be adaptable, reliable and consistent
Back to Duty
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| Version | Change detail | Earliest start date | Latest start date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Standard revised | 25/05/2023 | Not set |
| 1.0 | Approved for delivery | 27/05/2021 | 24/05/2023 |
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