Frailty Practitioner

NHS Jobs; Whitstable; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Whitstable Medical Practice invites applications for a Frailty Practitioner to join the General Practice Older Persons team. The role focuses on holistic frailty assessment, early identification, prevention of deterioration, and coordinated multidisciplinary care within the GP setting.

The postholder will work at Band 6 level, with supervision available from an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, and will be responsible for independent clinical decisions within their scope.

Qualifications

• Registered healthcare professional with Band 6 level responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Carry out clinical consultations for older people living with frailty.

Skills

Communication

Independent assessment

Leadership

Organization

Decision making

Empathy

Geriatrics knowledge

Education

NMC/HCPC registration

Frailty or End of Life Care modules

Comprehensive Geriatric Assessments

Job description

Whitstable Medical Practice has an exciting opportunity for a Frailty Practitioner to join our General Practice Older Persons (GPOP) Team, whohas a passion for frailty and older peoples care.

The postholder will be a registered healthcare professional working at Band 6 level,providing specialist clinical input to the assessment and ongoing care of olderpeople living with frailty, or at risk of frailty-related decline. They workautonomously within their professional scope and are accountable for their ownclinical decisions and conduct.

The rolecentres on holistic assessment, early identification of frailty, prevention ofdeterioration, personalised care planning, coordination of multidisciplinarycare, and timely escalation of clinical concerns. The post holder works as amember of the GP Older Persons Team and as an integral part of the practice team. As a member of thisteam the post holder will be expected to work independently, with clinicalsupervision available from an Advanced Clinical Practitioner to supportdecision making where needed.

The GPOlder Persons Team are responsible for the day to day medical support to theresidential and nursing homes in Whitstable, provide specialist assessment toolder people living at home with frailty.

Main duties of the job

• Carry out clinical consultations, within their competence, with older people living with frailty.
• Undertake structured frailty assessments and holistic clinical reviews.
• Identify patients who may be living with, or at risk of, frailty.
• Assess common frailty syndromes and their impact on function, independence, and quality of life.
• Identify the clinical, functional, psychological, social, and environmental factors contributing to frailty or decline.
• Assess mobility, falls risk, nutrition, cognition, and continence
• Contribute to personalised care planning based on what matters most to the patient including completing RESPECT forms.
• Recognise signs of acute deterioration and elevate promptly.
• Support proactive management of patients at risk of avoidable hospital admission.
• Coordinate care with the wider multidisciplinary team and liaise with community and secondary care services.
• Support patients and carers to understand their condition, care plan, and available support.
• Provide safety-netting and appropriate follow-up.
• Recognise the limits of their own competence and elevate or seek advice when needed.
• Maintain accurate, up-to-date clinical records.
• Contribute to audit, quality improvement, and service development relating to frailty.
• Recognise a deteriorating patient approaching end of life and provide support to patients, families and care home staff within their scope

About us

Whitstable Medical Practice is a forward thinking single Primary Care Network (PCN), GP Practice based across three sites in Whitstable, Kent looking after 45,500 patients.

Feel valued, supported and have the opportunity to shape the future.

Be apart of the only GP practice named in the NHS 10-year Health Plan for its innovation and care.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a progressive and ambitious practice where your ideas, professional development and well-being are genuinely valued.

Support from our experienced clinical teams, including;

• Pharmacists to help with medication changes /issues
• Home Visiting Team Paramedics
• Very Helpful Nursing and HCA teams
• Supportive management and administrative teams
• Exceptional secretary support, including referrals.

Our state-of-the-art buildings provide access to a wide range of services and facilities, including:

• In-house phlebotomy
• X-ray
• DVT diagnosis and treatment
• Minor Injury Unit
• Dermatology including our award-winning QiC Team of the Year
• Echocardiography
• Ophthalmology
• Gynaecology
• LSI
• And many, many more ...

As is typical across the country, we are experiencing an increasing elderly population which is placing additional pressures on the local health economy. There are 10 care and nursing homes in the area all of whom are registered with the practice.

Job responsibilities

Carehomes and community-based care

The postholder will support older people in care homes and the community, reviewingpatients after a change in health, supporting falls prevention and careplanning, liaising with care home staff and families, and helping to reduceavoidable emergency attendances or admissions.

Frailtyassessment

The post holder will:

• Identify patients with mild,moderate, or severe frailty.
• Review relevant medical,functional, and social information.
• Assess functional abilityand any change from the patient's normal baseline.
• Identify recent or recurrentfalls, and mobility or balance difficulties.
• Recognise possible cognitiveimpairment or delirium, and escalating where needed.
• Identify nutritionalconcerns, weight loss, or poor appetite.
• Consider continence andtoileting difficulties and making appropriate referrals
• Identify potential medication-relatedcontributors to decline.
• Consider social isolation,carer strain, and the home environment and making appropriate referrals.
• Recognise red flags thatneed urgent medical review.
• Communicate findings clearlyto the wider team.

Holisticclinical assessment

Withintheir professional scope, the post holder will:

• take aclinical history;
• reviewmedical records, diagnoses, and recent hospital or community contacts;
• assesschanges from baseline and consider functional status, multimorbidity, andsafeguarding concerns.
• Identifypossible infection, dehydration, malnutrition, delirium, or falls as causes ofdecline, and recognise when further investigation or medical assessment isrequired.

Managingfrailty syndromes

• The postholder helps identify and manage common frailty syndromes, including falls,reduced mobility, functional decline, cognitive impairment, delirium,nutritional decline, continence problems, dizziness, polypharmacy, socialisolation, and carer stress.
• Theyidentify appropriate interventions within their scope and coordinate referralsto other services, such as GPs, community nursing, physiotherapy, occupationaltherapy, dietetics, pharmacy, falls services, specialist frailty or memoryservices, social care, and palliative care where appropriate.
• The postholder demonstrates sound clinical reasoning appropriate to Band 6 level,making independent decisions within their scope, recognising significantdeterioration, and balancing clinical evidence with the patient's circumstancesand preferences.
• The post holder would identify the limits of their own knowledge or experience, seek advice fromsenior clinicians, GPs or specialists when needed, elevate promptly wheresafety may be at risk, and document their reasoning clearly.

Multidisciplinaryworking

The postholder works closely with GPs, practice nurses, pharmacists, advancedpractitioners, community nurses, allied health professionals, social workers,care coordinators, care homes, and specialist or secondary care services,contributing relevant clinical information to MDT discussions for patients withcomplex needs.

Safeguarding

The postholder recognises and responds appropriately to safeguarding concerns involvingolder people, including neglect, abuse, carer breakdown, and unsafe livingcircumstances, following practice and local safeguarding procedures.

Supervisionand governance

The postholder has access to a named senior clinician and GP support, takes part inregular clinical supervision, reflective practice, and audit, and maintainsappropriate professional indemnity. They work within relevant professionalstandards and the practice's clinical governance policies.

The postholder maintains ongoing development relevant to frailty, falls, delirium,dementia, nutrition, multimorbidity, medicines awareness, safeguarding, mentalcapacity, and end-of-life care, identifying learning needs through supervision,appraisal, and clinical practice.

Qualityimprovement

The postholder contributes to safe and effective frailty services through audit,service evaluation, review of falls and hospital admissions, development ofcare pathways, and MDT learning, supporting a culture of continuous improvementand patient safety.

Person Specification

Experience

• Post registration experience gained by undertaking on-going personal development and training.
• Experience of working with patients with frailty, including being able to identify different levels of frailty and how that effects the patient.
• Experience in clinically assessing patients independently, arranging investigations, considering differential diagnoses and implementing management plans.
• Experience of working with long-term conditions.
• Good understanding of current health care issues.
• Involvement in the implementation and management of change.
• Experience underpinned by knowledge of working with and understanding the complex needs of patients in a primary care/community setting.

Skills and Abilities

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to holistically and independently assess a frail patient.
• Ability to advocate patient issues.
• Ability to demonstrate leadership skills.
• Excellent organisation skills including the ability to make decisions and prioritise.
• A degree of autonomy, analytical skills and multidisciplinary knowledge in caring for patients.
• Decision making skills and problem solving skills.
• Ability to understand and interpret information/evidence based care and apply to practice.
• Ability to work within your scope and elevate safely and appropriately when required.
• Critical thinking.
• Assertive, adaptable and flexible.
• Empathy and compassion.
• Experience of completing Comprehensive Geriatric Assessments.

Qualifications

• Experience and fully qualified Healthcare professional.
• Registered Practitioner holding current registration with NMC or HCPC.
• Frailty or End of Life Care modules/qualifications.
• Clinical assessment module if not included in your registration qualification.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Depending on experience- equivalent to Band 6