First Contact Practice Portfolio Route

Course Title First Contact Practice Portfolio Route

Qualification Credits

Duration four to six-months

Stage 2 is completed with a portfolio of evidence and verified in Primary Care. This is the recognition process of the application of the KSA in Stage 1 to clinical practice in Primary Care. Within a supervised portfolio route, we will support you to develop a professional portfolio relevant to FCP to demonstrate your competence and capabilities in meeting the knowledge, skills and attributes set out within the Roadmaps. Everybody moving into primary care should do the roadmap training to prove capability in the primary care prerequisite knowledge skills and attributes at masters level to assure patient safety.

You will be enrolled on a 20-credit Level 7 unit, which we have developed specifically for this purpose, called ‘Developing a Professional Portfolio’. The unit will be based on the LNA which will inform the development of the portfolio, which demonstrates your practice-based journey of development, culminating in achievement of relevant competence and capabilities.  Unlike more traditionally delivered units of learning, this unit is a ‘long thin’ unit with you being guided and supported through short sessions spread out across a four to six-month period enabling you to build the portfolio alongside developing and confirming your competence mapped against your scope of professional practice.

Throughout the portfolio development you will benchmark evidence including the relevant FCP RoadMap.  There are 5 roadmaps which recognise the unique skillsets that Allied Health Professions bring to primary care. These are MSK Roadmap for HCPC-registered physiotherapists or GOsC-registered Osteopaths; Paramedic Roadmap; Dietitian Roadmap; Occupational Therapy Roadmap; and a Podiatry Roadmap.

Your portfolio development will be undertaken through critical exploration/awareness of current evidence-based practice, scholarship and research and relevant quality improvement initiatives. You will generate a portfolio which includes a wide variety of valid and reliable evidence, a significant proportion of which will have been verified by appropriate education or practice-based professional colleagues.

Central to the portfolio route is the provision of a roadmap supervisor (RMSV), who may be a GP, an ACP or a recognised FCP. The roadmap supervisor will need to have previously completed the training provided, this is a two-day course. The role of a Roadmap Supervisor comes with the responsibility of undertaking workplace-based assessments and verifying evidence of knowledge, skills, and capability in day-to-day practice. This will include regular meetings between you and the RMSV to discuss working, learning needs, and workplace-based assessments. The RMSV will be able to review, comment and approve on the FCP portfolio.

Based on your LNA, you will be able to attend sessions within the taught route, if you need to enhance your knowledge and skills within a particular topic and be able to access a range of online materials. To support your portfolio development, you will be encouraged to undertake a role development presentation and share pieces of evidence from their supervisors for review.

The portfolio is not an easier route and can be more challenging to complete as it is subject to your learning style and the support of your Roadmap Supervisor. Essential requirements of you as a clinician in your journey are ongoing reflective practice, peer review, patient feedback, and the monitoring of personal wellbeing in order to provide an enriched learning experience. You will need to negotiate a supportive learning environment, allow space for reviewing the learning experience, and facilitate a route that is as seamless as possible through the process of recognition towards FCP.