Developing, enabling and progressing multi-professional, consultant-level practice

The Centre for Advancing Practice is recognised for its contribution to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (NHS, 2023). Its primary inputs have been through the standardising of approaches to the quality assurance of advanced practice education, and helping to develop practitioners who seek to work beyond advanced practice in multi-professional, consultant-level practice roles. This work builds on Health Education England's (HEE) co-produced (2020) Multi-professional consultant-level practice capability and impact framework, which was based on 30 years of research and practice across such consultant roles. As a result of work conducted with subject matter experts in several key areas (learning disabilities and autism, cancer care and diagnostics), pilot development programmes for aspiring and early years consultant practitioners (1–3 years in post) have been co-produced and are being operationalised. These development pathways are essential to retaining the advanced practice workforce across the sectors of healthcare, as they help facilitate the transition from advanced to consultant practice roles. Developing the workforce is fundamental to reform and system transformation.