When you begin a career in care you will either have or be working towards Level 2 Adult Care Worker. On completion of this programme, you will be able to help adults with their care and support needs, enabling them to have control and choice in their lives which is at the heart of person centred care.
The lead adult care role includes the additional responsibilities of providing leadership guidance and direction at the point of delivery of care and support. The lead adult care worker may have delegated responsibility for supervision, direction of others and associated levels of autonomy and accountability.
This is a new occupation, introduced into the health and care workforce to bridge the gap between health and care assistants and registered nurses. The standards for proficiency are set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Nursing associates contribute to the promotion of health, health protection and the prevention of ill health. They do this by empowering people and communities to exercise choice, take control of their own health decisions and behaviours and by supporting people to manage their own care where possible. In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a variety of service users, families and carers, and with an extensive range of health and care professionals and other agencies including social services, police, probation, prisons, housing, education, language interpreters and third sector agencies.
You will use your expertise to assess, plan, implement and evaluate care, putting the needs of patients and service users first. You will be responsible and accountable for your work and for reviewing the effectiveness of your actions. You will be expected to demonstrate leadership qualities whatever your role and you may manage and lead colleagues. You will be responsible for ensuring your own knowledge and skills are up to date and support the development of learners and new entrants to the profession. You must uphold the NMC Code and meet the NMC requirements for continuing registration.
Advanced Clinical Practitioners are experienced clinicians who demonstrate expertise in their scope of practice. They combine expert clinical skills with research, education and clinical leadership within their scope of practice. Advanced Clinical Practitioners work innovatively on a one to one basis with individuals as well as part of a wider team. They work as part of the wider health and social care team and across traditional professional boundaries in health and social care.
