Content of Professional Practice: Scope, Influences & Trends

1. Content of Professional Practice: Scope, Influences & Trends Ian Grigor School of Healthcare Studies University of Leeds

2. Module aims • To unpack the roles of the accountable practitioner in terms of policies and professional regulations • To analyse the true meanings “quality in healthcare” • To evaluate the terms of reference for leaders in the healthcare arena

3. The changing context of care • Move to primary and intermediate care • Public expectations continue to rise • As the new NHS develops nurses, midwives health visitors and other healthcare professions will play a central part in implementing National Service Frameworks, and securing quality improvement through clinical governance

4. Context of professional practice • Scope • Influence • Trends Change & development in • Practice • Policy • Education

5. Scope of practice The practice of healthcare requires the application of knowledge and the simultaneous exercise of judgement and skill. Practice takes place in a context of continuing change and development.

6. Scope of practice New roles for practitioners: • Prescribing • Planners and commissioners of care • Developing specialist skills • Health promoters There is no place for rigid demarcation of role boundaries in a modern service

7. Scope of patients/clients/public • The Expert Patients Programme – designed to empower patients to manage their own healthcare • Prevention of disease and tackling inequalities in health will assume a much greater priority in the NHS DoH(2004) The NHS Improvement Plan: Putting People at the Heart of the Public Services

8. Influences and trends • Evidence based practice • Healthcare consultants • Quality assurance • National standards • Benchmarking • Regulation & accountability

9. Policy • Our Healthier Nation (DH 2000) • The NHS Plan (DH 2000) • National Service Frameworks (DH 2000 ►) • A Health Service of all the Talents (DH 2001) • Agenda for Change: a modernised NHS pay system (DH 2002) • Fitness to Practice (DH 2003) • The NHS Improvement Plan (DH 2004)

10. Education • Fitness to Practice (DH 2003) • Linking closely to the roles of regulatory bodies for healthcare professions • What do the NMC/HPC/GMC advocate?

11. Professional practice It is important to “recognise that it is the skills and knowledge which staff can bring to patient care which are important rather than simply their professional backgrounds” DH (2000)

12. Professional practice What sort of practitioners do we need for: • caring for patients & clients? • staffing the NHS and other caring organisations? • the government agenda? • the healthcare professions?

13. Leadership Leaders who can establish direction and purpose, inspire, motivate and empower teams around common goals and produce real improvements in clinical practice, quality and services. We need leaders who are motivated, self aware, socially skilled and able to work together with others across professional and organisational boundaries

14. Context of professional practice • Challenge of professionalism • Challenges from service users • Challenge of values and ethics • Challenge of caring relationships • Challenge of working in teams • Challenge of being accountable Brechin, Brown & Eby (2000)

15. Assessment information • Summative assessment is a three-hour unseen examination paper • Examples of questions from previous years will be revisited in class • Academic supervision is available and can be accessed by appointment