Physician Associate Cranleigh, England
Job description
Physician Associate job description & person specification
Job Title
Physician Associate
Line Manager
The Partners
Accountable to
The Partners
Hours per week
37
Job Summary
Under the supervision of the GPs in the practice, you will provide care for the presenting patient including focused history taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of care. You will demonstrate safe clinical decision-making and expert care, including assessment and diagnostic skills, for patients of the practice. You will demonstrate critical thinking in the decision-making process. You will work collaboratively with the healthcare team to meet the needs of the patients, supporting the delivery of appropriate care. You will provide a holistic and clinical service, with the support and supervision of experienced GPs, implementing agreed management plans and following approved protocols as appropriate.
Generic Responsibilities
All staff at Cranleigh Medical Practice have a duty to conform to the following:
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
A good attitude and positive action towards ED&I creates and environment where all individuals are able to achieve their full potential. Creating such an environment is important for three reasons: it improves operational effectiveness, it is morally the right thing to do, and it is required by law.
Patients and their families have the right to be treated fairly and be routinely involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.
Staff have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression. Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued and equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that you treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.
Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)
This practice is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities to for staff to maintain their health, well-being and safety. You have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for you, your team and others, and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. All personnel are to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Environmental Protection Act 1990, Environment Act 1995, Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999 and other statutory legislation.
Confidentiality
This practice is committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters, pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect all staff will respect their privacy and maintain confidentiality at all times. It is essential that if, the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained that all staff protect patient information and provide a confidential service.
Quality & Continuous Improvement (CI)
To preserve and improve the quality of our output, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work. The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice.
This practice continually strives to improve work processes which deliver health care with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone counts and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.
Induction Training
On arrival at the practice all personnel are to complete a practice induction programme; this is managed by the Practice Manager.
Learning and Development
The effective use of training and development is fundamental in ensuring that all staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude and competences to perform their role. All staff will be required to partake and complete mandatory training as directed by the training coordinator, as well as participating in the practice training programme. Staff will also be permitted (subject to approval) to undertake external training courses which will enhance their knowledge and skills, progress their career and ultimately, enable them to improve processes and service delivery.
Collaborative Working
All staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working. Teamwork is essential in multidisciplinary environments. Effective communication is essential and all staff must ensure they communicate in a manner which enables the sharing of information in an appropriate manner.
Service Delivery
Staff must adhere to the information contained with practice policies and regional directives, ensuring protocols are adhered to at all times. Staff will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding policy and procedure.
Security
The security of the practice is the responsibility of all personnel. Staff must ensure they remain vigilant at all times and report any suspicious activity immediately to their line manager. Under no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks to anyone and are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured.
Professional Conduct
Staff are required to dress appropriately for their role. Administrative staff will be provided with a uniform whilst clinical staff must dress in accordance with their role.
Leave
All personnel are entitled to take leave. Line managers are to ensure all of their staff are afforded the opportunity to take a minimum of 28 pro rata days leave each year, and should be encouraged to take all of their leave entitlement.
Primary Responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of the Physician Associate. There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
- Work clinical sessions consisting of either telephone triage appointments, face to face appointments or both.
- Conduct home visits following adequate training.
- Triage incoming pathology results and documents.
- Act on alerts (e.g. QOF, local enhanced services etc.) and reminders during a consultation.
- Respond to medical problems presented by patients, including history taking and examination.
- Organise onward investigation, treatment and referral where appropriate.
- Be confident in explaining to patients their clinical management plan and be able to modify that plan according to their age and comorbidities.
- Develop consultation skills to enable shared patient and practitioner decision-making.
- Be able to justify choice of medication. Able to understand the impact of comorbidities and other medications and poly-pharmacy.
- Provide appropriate preventative health care and advice.
- Provide medical support as required to patients referred by nursing staff
- Adhere to the practice prescribing formulary, local and national guidelines.
- Under supervision of the GPs in the practice, make professional, autonomous decisions in relation to presenting problems, whether self-referred or referred from other health care workers within the organisation.
- Record clear and contemporaneous IT based consultation notes to agreed standards.
- Collect data for audit purposes.
Secondary Responsibilities
In addition to the primary responsibilities, the physician associate may be requested to:
- Participate in practice audits as requested by the audit lead.
- Participate in local initiatives to enhance service delivery and patient care.
- Participate in the review of significant and near-miss events applying a structured approach i.e. root cause analysis (RCA).
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Qualified Physician Associate.
- Postgraduate diploma/master in Physician Associate (formally Physician Assistant with a bachelor degree in Life Science/Biomedical/Nursing or Allied Health Science).
- Membership of the Faculty of Physician Associates of the RCP, which includes UK Physician Associate Registration (the PA Managed Voluntary Register);
Eligibility
Current and valid certification or re-certification by the UK Physician Associate National Examination
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working in a primary care environment.
- Experience of continued professional development.
- Experience of QOF and clinical audit.
- General understanding of the GMS contract.
Clinical Knowledge & Skills
Essential
- Outstanding level of clinical knowledge and skills commensurate with that of an experienced GP.
Skills
Essential
- Excellent communication skills (written and oral).
- Strong IT skills.
- Clear, polite telephone manner.
- Competent in the use of Office and Outlook.
- Effective time management (Planning & Organising).
- Ability to work as a team member and autonomously.
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Problem solving & analytical skills.
- Ability to follow clinical policy and procedure.
- Experience with audit and able to lead audit programmes.
- Experience with clinical risk management.
Personal Qualities
- Polite and confident.
- Flexible and cooperative.
- Motivated, forward thinker.
- Problem solver with the ability to process information accurately and effectively, interpreting data as required.
- High levels of integrity and loyalty.
- Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations.
- Ability to work under pressure / in stressful situations.
- Effectively able to communicate and understand the needs of the patient.
- Commitment to ongoing professional development.
- Effectively utilises resources.
- Punctual and committed to supporting the team effort.
Other requirements
Essential
- Flexibility to work outside of core office hours.
- Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check.
- Occupational Health Clearance.
- Project lead as required.
Job Type: Full-time
Schedule:
- Monday to Friday
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Cranleigh: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Work Location: In person
