Becoming an Advanced Practitioner
Resources for advanced practice
Training information
Nursing Whilst Black
Dermatology skin club
Non-medical prescribing
Flu Clinic Symposium recording
Tackling misinformation in LD
Monday 19 April
All Our Health: Inclusion Health
Leadership & Management training
Our well-being & peer support group
Gynaecological cancers
LARC Fitter Guidance
Menopause
Sexual health
Becoming an advanced practitioner
To become an advanced practitioner, you will need to work towards a Masters degree in advanced practice — this will require support from your employers, as the course is based on having a clinical mentor to teach and supervise you.
Many universities and Higher Education Institutes have advanced practice courses, enrolment on which needs to be funded by either the student or their employer. Several institutions offer distance-learning courses; the University of Cumbria’s is not only fully distanced, but also accredited by the RCN.
To learn more about it, please click here.
UWE also have a Masters in Advanced Practice course, and provide a local apprenticeship in advanced practice, which awards successful graduates with a Masters’ degree.
For more on the Masters’ course, please click here, and for more on the apprenticeship, click here.
Additionally, there are a limited number of funded module places available for non-medical prescribing and PACR (Patient Assessment and Clinical Reasoning).
For information on these, please contact Avon LMC. Clicking here will take you to their contact page.
Resources for advanced practice
Avon LMC run various courses, free for general practice staff in Avon, and many of which are suitable for advanced practitioners.
Please click here to go to their site.
And the ACP Forum, open to all advanced clinical practitioners working in Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, holds regular meetings with and offers support to its members.
To visit their site, please click here.
All Our Health: Inclusion Health
HEE has collaborated with Public Health England to add a new session on inclusion health to the All Our Health e-Learning programme. It is a bite-sized session to give health and care professionals an overview of inclusion health, including key evidence, data, and signposting to trusted resources to help prevent illness, protect health, and promote wellbeing.
Inclusion health refers to socially excluded peoples, such as vulnerable migrants, sex workers, and people who experience homelessness. These individuals usually experience overlapping risk factors for poor health, including poverty, violence, and discrimination, all of which can prove to be barriers to accessing healthcare services and lead to very poor health outcomes.
Leadership & Management training
Avon LMC provide free training for practice staff in Avon, including sessions on appraisals and other management tools.
For more information, please click here.
BNSSG Training Hub runs courses intended to develop delegates’ leadership & management skills; make sure to keep an eye on our communications (we signpost to other bodies’ programmes, too).
NHS Leadership Academy organises and delivers a range of relevant courses, too, including the renowned Rosalind Franklin programme, designed for clinicians or managers who lead from mid-level health and care systems and aspire to directing large, complex programmes, departments, services or systems of care.
Please click here to visit the Leadership Academy’s site.
Our well-being & peer support group
BNSSG Training Hub is pleased to offer a monthly 1- / 1.5-hour online peer support group for those new to general practice nursing. This session will be limited to 4 places on a first-come, first-serve basis, but we welcome all expressions of interest as we endeavour to provide further sessions soon.
The initial session will be running on a Thursday afternoon, once a month, with the final date to be confirmed, and it will be facilitated by a clinician with a special interest in the health and well-being of health professionals.
For more information, please click here.
Gynaecological cancers
The Eve Appeal has a resource pack on gynaecological cancers, ideally suited for primary care staff. It can help you in promoting early diagnosis and long-term management.
To download the resource pack, please click here to go to The Eve Appeal’s site.
Menopause
The British Menopause Society (BMS) holds a variety of events across the country each year, ranging from professional development courses to women’s health symposiums.
To view all the BMS’s upcoming events, please click here.
Sexual health
The Faculty of Reproductive and Sexual Health (FRSH) of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have a diploma course considered to be the gold standard in sexual health care training.
For more, visit their site by clicking here.
In addition to comprehensive pages on contraception, pregnancy, STIs & HIV, and sexual abuse, Unity Sexual Health has a range of training events on offer, with an annual update day scheduled for next May. They can even help provide clinical placements for nursing students and qualified nurses.
For more, please click here.
Avon LMC occasionally run relevant courses, too — keep an eye on their events calendar for more information, or on our communications for signposts.
To view Avon LMC’s event calendar, please click here.
Dermatology skin club
South West Dermatology regularly hold meetings, at which consultant dermatologists share photos of dermatological conditions for discussion, for staff in Bristol.
For more information, please send an email to sarah.carter@dermal.co.uk.
Non-medical prescribing
UWE run a non-medical prescribing course here in BNSSG — as a degree-level short course, for nurses. Funded places may be available via Avon LMC. Please contact them for further information.
To read up on the course, please click here.
To contact Avon LMC, please click here.
Flu Clinic Symposium recording
In September 2020, NHSE / I held a Flu Clinic Symposium, to enable general practice nurses from across the South West to share best practice and pose questions to a panel of experts.
You can (re)watch it any time by clicking the button below, to watch it via Teams.
Monday 19 April
The next BNSSG General Practice Nurse Forum will be held on Monday 19th April, from 13.00 – 14.00. To be run virtually and open to all GPNs, the agenda for this month’s Forum will feature updates on:
- Screening and Immunisations, from Annette McHardy (South West Screening & Immunisation Team, PHE)
- The Child Health Information Service (CHIS), from Rachel Todd (Deputy Head of Operational Service) and Tracy Cook (GP Engagement Manager)
- Active Weston, from Rebecca Stathers (Healthy Lifestyle Service Manager, North Somerset Council)
- Avon LMC, from Lucy Murrell (Director of Nursing)
- And on BNSSG CCG, from Liz Mallett (CCG GPN Lead)
These updates will be followed by an opportunity for attendees to raise any other matters of business and network.
For further information and an invite, please contact elizabeth.mallett1@nhs.net.
Tackling misinformation in LD
On behalf of the NHS, Misfits Theatre Company features in the video addressing the misinformation surrounding the flu vaccination below.
It encourages people with learning disabilities and their carers (family member or support worker) to not delay and get their free flu vaccine today.
Nursing Whilst Black
The RCN’s podcast Nursing whilst black invites nurses, healthcare support workers, and students from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds to share their reflections of and experiences of working in healthcare, along with insights into how we can all address the issue of racism.
All episodes available via the button.
LARC Fitter Guidance
This guidance document, compiled by Lucy Murrell (Director of Nursing, Avon LMC) and Unity Sexual Health, is intended to help healthcare professionals and their employers in general practice within BNSSG navigate their way through the LARC fitter training process.
Clinical Supervision Training for GPNs
We are looking for 1 GPN per PCN to undergo training to become workplace Clinical Supervisors. The training will involve undertaking an e-Learning module, participation in a half-day training course, and committing to re-evaluation over regular intervals for the following 12 – 18 months.
Applications are welcomed from GPNs with at least 2 years’ experience and postgraduate study in a particular field (e.g., diabetes). Applicants will need to have the support of their practices and sufficient time to carry out the role.
Dates
- Tuesday 20 April | 09.15 – 12.30
- Wednesday 23 June | 09.15 – 12.30
- Wednesday 8 September | 13.00 – 16.15
- Wednesday 10 November | 13.00 – 16.15
See these dates on the calendar by clicking here.
Training Benefits
Individual Benefits:
- Improved patient care
- Increased morale
- Greater confidence
- Stress relief / prevention
- Valuing and learning from success
- Opportunity to share and develop relationships and network
- Developing individual responsibility
Organisation Benefits:
- Improved practice from confident practitioners
- A culture in which practitioners and patients are valued
- Improved recruitment and retention of staff
- Increased accountability and motivation
- Enhanced wellbeing and reduced sickness rates
- Improved communication among team members
For more information and to send an expression of interest, please use the buttons below.
Additional resources
A day in the life of a general practice nurse