This approach would allow central guidance to be issued around the use of the title 'advanced practitioner' and how it can be governed within NHS organisations without recourse to an external regulatory body. The move from government to governance is a sign of a modern approach to regulation that acknowledges professionalism in its purest form. The Scottish Government have already issued guidance for NHS Boards on governance of Advanced Nursing Practice roles and Consultant Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals (SGHD 2010) and work is ongoing to implement this guidance. Regulation of advanced practitioners across domains It is important to consider the regulatory implications of our understanding of advanced practice outside of the clinical advanced nursing role. We've already identified that advanced-level practice may also be articulated across non-clinical domains such as education, management and research and this is likely to be part of the discussion which will emerge in the NMC's consultations on its approach to revalidation. We should note, however, that these issues have not yet been debated more widely across the profession through the White Paper working groups or the NMC. Developed Government engagement The devolved administrations across the UK are fully engaged with the workstreams on implementation of the UK White Paper on Regulation. It will ensure that the position taken on the regulatory implications of advanced-level practice roles are fully linked to devolved and UK-wide governance principles, processes and responsibilities and that the needs of the public are met. It will also ensure that any response is proportionate and risk based. The Professional Regulation Leads, Modernising Nursing Careers Leads and project team will continue to liaise closely with the NMC and other key stakeholders to ensure that the toolkit contains clear guidance on these issues to support practitioners, educationalists, service leads and regulatory bodies. LINKED PROJECTS Overview The Advanced Practice Toolkit is not a stand-alone initiative. It has been developed as one of a range of initiatives currently underway in NHS Scotland that aim to describe, define and deliver career modernisation, career development and career frameworks for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. This section reviews some of these key linked projects.
Leading Better Care − the review of the senior charge nurse/midwife role and the clinical quality indicators (CQI) initiative describes a modern senior charge nurse/midwife role that will enable frontline clinical leaders to maximise their contribution to delivering safe and effective care. The review aimed to support the role to ensure a visible, authoritative, credible and accessible presence for patients and families and to provide mechanisms that will give assurance to patients and the public that senior charge nurses/midwives are accountable leaders and managers of safe and effective care. The clinical coordination, leadership and management functions of the senior charge nurse/midwife to the wider multidisciplinary team highlights their roles as key decision-makers impacting on the delivery of safe and effective care for patients and users of the service. In parallel with the clinical education careers work, this project aims to demonstrate how the role of senior charge can be seen as matching the management/leadership aspects of advanced practice. The work is supported by an (NES, 2007) designed to assist senior charge nurses/midwives and service leads in identifying learning and development needs and support them in accessing appropriate learning and development activities, and/or academic education. The framework complements the Advanced Practice Toolkit and helps to ensure that continuing professional development activities are valued and embedded as a lifelong process. was developed in 2011 and aims to support learning and development and practical application of the leadership role. Modernising AHP Careers – UK-wide project to develop a competence-based career framework for AHPs The (MAHPC) work is a workforce initiative to maximise the contribution AHPs can make to transforming health and social care. There was a need to develop a flexible and responsive approach to allied health professions careers that reflects the diversity of the professions and the location and sectors they work in whilst, at the same time, maximising their potential to contribute to transforming patient care and promoting health and well-being. The MAHPC project has three areas of delivery in order to facilitate the development of a flexible and responsive AHP workforce. These are to: develop national workforce competences and ensure they are relevant to the work of AHPs and their staff irrespective of grade or location or sector map AHP roles on to the career framework