Advanced Clinical Practitioner. Meet the Primary Care Workforce: Glenda Boutell

Meet Glenda, she is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner for Kent & Medway Partnership Mental Health Trust. Glenda's role includes working in both primary and secondary care. She wanted to become an ACP to increase her job satisfaction and continue delivering the patient-facing work that she enjoys.

Transcript:
I’m Glenda Boutell and I am a Consultant Nurse and Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) for Kent & Medway Partnership Mental Health Trust.
Could you please share your training and career journey?
I qualified as a Nurse in 2001, started working and then decided that I wanted to do more. I progressed into Operational Management roles, completed clinical modules and a Prescribing course and became an Approved Mental Health Practitioner. These clinical modules meant I was more clinically aligned and had the knowledge to apply for the ACP Master's course. Having already a Master's Degree enabled me to do the endorsed route. My journey hasn't been fairly straightforward but it eventually got me where I needed to be, in terms of working clinically and having that clinical focus.
How does your job role link to Primary Care?
As a Mental Health Trust we would consider ourselves as more Secondary and Tertiary Care, but we do have a Primary Care Mental Health service working very closely with GPs. One of the challenging things for mental health in Primary Care is the lack of those resources; in the past we did have Community Mental Health Nurses based in GP practices and over the last decade we've seen a movement to Community Mental Health services. We have a small Primary Care team here and work closely with GPs to make sure that we can support them to prevent patients having to come into Secondary services. This means making sure that there is regular monitoring of people with long-term mental health conditions, making reviews of long-term medication alongside the GPs, and supporting GPs with assessments.
Why did you become an ACP?
I became an ACP because fundamentally, I am passionate about a patient-facing role; I never wanted to go into Senior Management. One of the challenges for nurses is that there isn't a clear clinical pathway compared to the management pathway. I enjoy working with patients, it can be stressful but is very rewarding. I can come back from a busy day with good job satisfaction as I have seen good outcomes for patients. That's why becoming an ACP is such a big part of making sure that I get the job satisfaction and can deliver that patient-facing work that I enjoy doing.
What does your work as an ACP involve?
Being an ACP in mental health is a diverse role with an important level of autonomy. I work along side a consultant colleague and as my career has progressed so has my level of autonomy, as I have the skills and knowledge to manage patients. I see patients who have just been admitted to the ward, start to work out a treatment plan, put it in place and work with the team on monitoring their progress, and any changes needed to the treatment plan. Another part of my role is to do any other investigations that may be needed, such as requesting scans, blood tests and anything that will support the patient's recovery. I also work with other colleagues internally and externally, for example with patients with alcohol or substance issues. I liaise with other organisations to make sure the treatment plan is focused on the longer-term recovery and making sure there is a wider, holistic care plan.
What are the benefits of ACPs?
Having an ACP means having someone with many different skills and a holistic approach to patient care, who understands the different factors of wellbeing; e.g. for some patients, I don't just look at their physical health, but also at their mental health, their social needs, a variety of things that keep people well. It has a positive impact on patients, they feel I have more time for them, I listen and am available to respond if they need changes to their treatment. Also resources in the NHS are stretched and that traditional hierarchy of Doctors, Junior Doctors etc. is becoming quite dated. ACPs working in Primary Care have the right skills, knowledge and experience and can support the practice, deliver a good service, assess patients and make sure people aren't waiting a long time for services.
What are your career plans for the next 2-3 years?
My next step is to become a Clinical Director within the next 5 years; that is unheard of for nurses, but the ACP pathway allows me to start thinking about those more senior roles. Being a Mental Health Nurse in particular, one of the gaps for us is our physical health knowledge, so I would like to build on that and find modules that are aligned to making sure whilst I am giving someone support for their mental health, my physical health knowledge is up to date so there is that parity across the whole system.