First Contact Practitioner - Surrey Downs Health & Care

We are looking for a flexible, dynamic and forward thinking First Contact Practitioner to join our team in SDHC,working in the Banstead. You will be the FCP for patients with MSK conditions and will be responsible for triaging them into the most appropriate pathway. This may be to self-care; for further assessment; to community physiotherapy; for appropriate diagnostics or to secondary care. There will be development opportunities in line with the Health Education England recommendations for FCPs in Primary Care. Please ensure that you have completed Stage 1 of the FCP framework and evidence this at the interview.Main duties of the job Provide clinical expertise, acting as first-contact Musculoskeletal (MSK) practitioner and making decisions about the best course of action for patients' care. This will involve seeing patients, without prior contact with their GP. Practitioners will use their clinical-reasoning skills to undertake an assessment of the presenting problem, interpret findings, develop working and differential diagnoses, and formulate, communicate and implement management plans that take account of individual's needs, goals and wishes, local service availability and local and national guidelines and policies. Request investigations to facilitate diagnosis and choice of treatment regime, understanding the information limitations derived from these and the relative sensitivity and specificity of particular tests diagnostic services such as x-rays and blood tests, and interpret and act on results to aid diagnosis and the management plans of patients. Enable individuals to make decisions about their care using the principles of shared decision making:

• helping them to identify the priorities and outcomes that are important to them
• explaining in non-technical language all available options (including doing nothing)
• exploring with them the risks, benefits and consequences of each available option
• supporting them to make a decision on their preferred way forward
  
  Surrey Downs Health and Care deliver care closer to people's own communities through our Primary Care Networks, Community Hospitals, Specialist Services and our innovative partnership of local NHS organisations.
Surrey Downs Health and Care has a track record of providing person centered care that goes beyond organisational boundaries to do what is best for the individual. This partnership includes:
• The three GP federations GP Health Partners, Dorking Health Care and Surrey Medical Network representing practices that operate in the Surrey Downs area
• Epsom and St Helier's University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Surrey County Council
Historically, there have been boundary lines between the organisations that provide care to people in their homes, in GP surgeries and in hospitals, but we have always been united in our mission to provide great care to the people who need us. It's on those grounds that the Surrey Downs Health and Care was formed - we want local people to receive the care that they need in the right environment. By bringing together our expertise, we can improve patient care and enable local people to access the right support, care and treatment more easily than ever before. In bringing this partnership together, we are working to the same set of values that will translate into better care for our residents.