The knowledge and skills required of advanced level practitioners for accreditation and safe practice

Change, for better or worse, seems to be endemic in western societies, and in the past two decades advanced practice has not been exempt. Healthcare leaders and lecturers in the UK have adapted education programmes that are preparing for increasing numbers of health professionals to take on advanced clinical practice roles that meet policy and practice developments emerging from population need and government-influenced changes. Such change has included advanced practice policy from Health Education England (HEE) regarding funding for advanced level students, and the introduction of the advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) title.

This article focuses on advanced practice/ACP education.

The advanced level practice role started within the nursing profession in the 1960s in the USA. In the UK, advanced practice has had a mixed history since the role was first defined in 1993 by the United Kingdom Central Council (UKCC) (1993), which has been superseded by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). International advanced practice comparisons tend to focus predominantly on nursing roles; however, in the UK the remit was deliberately broadened to include non-medical allied health professionals (AHPs), such as radiographers and physiotherapists (National Leadership and Innovation Agency for Healthcare (NLIAH), 2010; Gardner et al, 2016).