Meet Claire and Simon: our new Trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioners

Meet Claire Dawson and Simon Gosling. Claire and Simon have each been at Sheffield Children’s as Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) for 13 and 12 years respectively, working in their core profession as a Specialist Orthoptist and Highly Specialist Orthoptist in our Eye department.

Recently, the pair took the opportunity to undergo a three-year master’s qualification at the University of Sheffield with the aim of becoming Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs). ACPs are healthcare professionals educated to master’s level who, after having cultivated new skills and knowledge during this time, are able to take a more prominent role when caring for our patients and families.

With over 25 years’ experience between them, this duo is looking to expand the scope of knowledge which they can call upon when treating patients at Sheffield Children’s. Claire said, “We have both started training for this new role with the aim of taking our practice to a higher level, expanding of skills and knowledge into the area of paediatric ophthalmology. We are going to be working in paediatric ophthalmology, which has only traditionally been open to doctors. We’re the first AHPs in the entire Trust doing the role and that’s really exciting!”

The pair are grateful for the opportunity for their respective places on the course, which have been fully funded by NHS England. Simon said: “To achieve the qualification and become a fully trained ACP, we are doing a three-year master’s course. In order to get to where we are a business case was created to solidify our role in the eye department once qualified as ACPs. We had to apply for the role within the department and also apply for the course at The University of Sheffield. It took a lot of work from a lot of people, but we’re really grateful that we’re here now.”

Claire added: “Our roles have been created with the objective of creating a better environment for our ophthalmology colleagues, as we’re hoping that we will be able to effectively share the workload and therefore deliver a stronger service for our patients and families.”

When qualified, as part of their new roles Claire and Simon will be able to take on cases previously held for consultants in the department. Claire said: “The aim of completing this qualification is not to take the role of a doctor. The aim is that by upskilling in paediatric ophthalmology, alongside our base profession experience, we can provide excellent holistic care for our children and young people. By sharing some of their more routine cases to free them up to do the more complex cases. We hope that this new structure will lead to an improved efficiency, reduced waiting time and increased patient and parent satisfaction.”

Simon added: “We are fortunate that we’re able to learn from our consultants on a practical level, and then consolidate our learning in the classroom. Our current contracts allow us time for studying. It can be a challenge to balance all of our responsibilities, but we’re really looking forward to bringing back what we’ve learnt and supporting our department in ways we couldn’t before.”

Claire also added: “When we qualify, we will be ready to get started straight away. We’ve been looking to put the necessary measures in place to ensure that our roles run smoothly in the department from the get-go.”

The pair are very proud to be the first AHPs across the Trust to be completing this level of qualification and hope to see other AHPs discovering different career paths in future. Simon said: “I would absolutely recommend it. It has been a challenge but we’re also trying to show AHPs that there are a number of directions for career progression. It doesn’t stop at being a specialist clinician or venturing into management. There are a number of ways that we can work and progress, and we hope that we can open doors for others to explore further.”

We can’t wait to see how Claire and Simon are able to support our Sheffield Children’s community in their new roles and wish them the best of luck in completing their qualification.