A Lead Practitioner in Adult Care will be able to guide and inspire team members to make positive differences to someone’s life, supporting them when they are faced with physical, practical, psychological, intellectual, social or emotional challenges. A Lead Practitioner will have achieved a recognised level of self-development and be viewed as a leader within the care team, contributing to, promoting and sustaining a values-based culture at an operational level.
A Lead Practitioner needs to have a greater depth of knowledge and expertise of particular conditions being experienced by those they care for. They will have developed specialist skills and knowledge in their area of responsibilities which will allow them to lead in areas such as care needs assessment, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, rehabilitation and enablement, telecare and assistive technology. Expected to be a coach and mentor to others, they will often also have a role in assessing performance and overall quality of care delivery.
Lead Practitioners in Adult Care may work in residential or nursing homes, domiciliary care, day centres, a person’s own home or some clinical healthcare settings. As well as covering Lead Practitioners in Adult Care this standard also covers Lead Personal Assistants who can work at this senior level but they may only work directly for one individual who needs support and/or care services, usually within their own home.
The decision to take an apprentice through Gateway is made between the employer, training provider and apprentice, typically after 12 – 18 months on-programme.
The apprentice must have completed all on-programme elements before they enter Gateway, including:
EPA consists of two assessment methods: an observation of practice and a professional discussion, underpinned by a portfolio of evidence.
