Advanced Clinical Practitioner - Acute Stroke

Job summary
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust are seeking an enthusiastic and highly skilled Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) to join the Acute Stroke Service.

This role is central to the delivery of high-quality hyper acute and acute stroke care, supporting patients across the stroke pathway including Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU), acute stroke wards, and rapid-access Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) clinics.

The ACP will be an experienced, knowledgeable, and autonomous practitioner providing advanced clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing management of patients presenting with suspected or confirmed acute stroke and TIA. Advanced practice is underpinned by the four pillars of clinical practice, leadership, education, and research, with a strong focus on direct patient care and service development.

The postholder will join the service during an exciting time of expansion. The expectation will be for the postholder to form part of a weekend rota which may change as more roles are approved and recruited to. A full overview of this in contained in the detailed job description below.

You will be a part of an established ACP community within CHFT. We can offer the following benefits:

20% non-clinical time for you to develop across the four pillars of advanced practice

ACP peer teaching

Trust ACP Lead support

Allocated medical supervisor

Main duties of the job

• Work closely with the Stroke Consultant team, stroke nursing team, therapists, radiology, and emergency services to provide safe, effective, and timely care to patients with suspected or confirmed stroke and TIA across HASU, acute stroke wards, and outpatient settings.
• Undertake advanced clinical assessment for patients presenting with acute neurological deficits, including differentiation between stroke, TIA, and stroke mimics.
• Act as an autonomous practitioner within agreed scope, providing expert clinical decision-making in complex, time-critical situations.
• Hold direct responsibility for a caseload of acute stroke and TIA patients, ensuring evidence-based care plans, escalation where required, and effective discharge planning.
• Support the hyper acute stroke pathway, including: Initial assessment and prioritisation; Coordination of urgent imaging; Support for thrombolysis and thrombectomy pathways; Ongoing monitoring and escalation of clinical deterioration.
• Undertake independent prescribing to optimise secondary stroke prevention and symptom management in line with national and local guidelines.
• Accurately request and interpret radiological and pathology investigations relevant to acute stroke and TIA management.
• Provide advanced clinical care for patients attending TIA / rapid-access stroke clinics, including risk stratification, initiation of secondary prevention, and onward referral.

About us
We employ more than 6,500 staff who deliver compassionate care from our two main hospitals, Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary as well as in community sites, health centres and in patients' homes. We also are incredibly proud to have almost 150 volunteers here at CHFT.

We provide a range of services including urgent and emergency care; medical; surgical; maternity; gynaecology; critical care; children's and young people's services; end of life care and outpatient and diagnostic imaging services.

We provide community health services, including sexual health services in Calderdale from Calderdale Royal and local health centres. These include Todmorden Health Centre and Broad Street Plaza.

We continue to modernise and invest in our health services to build on our strong reputation. Foundation trusts are public leaders in improving quality in health services. They are part of the NHS- yet decisions about what they do and how they do it are driven by independent boards. Boards listen to their Council of Governors and respond to the needs of their members - patients, staff and the local community.

Foundation trusts provide what the health service wants, yet are also free to invest quickly in the changes to the local community needs, in striving to be the best, and in putting their patients first.

Details
Date posted: 23 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
Reference number: 372-MED2679
Job locations: CRH, Halifax, HX3 0PW, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

• Lead the management of patients from arrival to discharge within the hyper acute and acute stroke pathway, demonstrating service improvement through audit and data collection.
• Be responsible for the assessment and management of patients presenting with suspected or confirmed acute stroke or TIA within HASU, acute stroke wards, and relevant clinical areas.
• Independently assess and manage patients referred to TIA / rapid-access stroke clinics, initiating investigations, treatment, and secondary prevention.
• Work collaboratively within the multidisciplinary stroke team to ensure timely assessment, diagnosis, and treatment decisions.
• Monitor readmission and re-presentation rates following stroke/TIA, identifying trends and contributing to service improvements.
• Contribute to stroke-specific research, audit, and quality improvement initiatives. Develop and review stroke pathways, guidelines, and patient information resources in line with national best practice.

Person Specification

QUALIFICATIONS/TRAINING
Essential

• Registered general nurse or Allied health care professional
• Teaching/Assessment, Mentoring qualification
• Previous experience of formal/informal teaching of patients and staff

Desirable

• Masters in Advanced Practice or equivalent
• Non Medical Prescriber

KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE
Essential

• Extensive experience in stroke, neurosciences, or acute medicine relevant to stroke services
• Experience in working as an autonomous practitioner within a specialty
• Knowledge of the key professional issues and NMC/AHP guidelines related to professional practice
• Evidence of being able to work across organisational boundaries
• Experience of applying research evidence to clinical practice.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Commitment to maintain own fitness for practice through maintaining a personal profile of competencies (profile)

Desirable

• Demonstrates up to date knowledge and expertise of Advanced Practice
• Working knowledge of acute stroke pathways, HASU processes and secondary prevention

COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS (INCLUDING MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES)
Essential

• Demonstrate a clear vision of the role and service
• Ability to initiate sustain and evaluate change.
• Demonstrates skilled written and verbal communication, presentation and decision making skills.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details
Employer name: Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
Address: CRH, Halifax, HX3 0PW, United Kingdom
Employer's website: (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
General Manager
Georgia Kelly
View email address on meeveem.com
View phone number on meeveem.com