First Contact Practitioners

First contact practitioners are qualified autonomous clinicians who can assess, diagnose, treat and manage problems and undifferentiated conditions, thereby reducing the demand on other primary care clinicians. Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) who typically work in FCP roles include Dietitians, Occupational Therapists, Paramedics, Physiotherapists and Podiatrists.

First contact practitioner (FCP) roles began with the development of the FCP Physiotherapist in 2014, in response to the shortage of General Practitioners (GPs) in Primary Care. The role of the FCP is to support GPs as part of a multi-professional care team and to optimise the patient care pathway by seeing the right person in the right place at the right time. A FCP is a qualified autonomous clinician who can assess, diagnose, treat and manage problems including undifferentiated conditions, without the patient needing to see a GP first. FCP roles have since developed to include other professions, these include: Paramedics, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Dietitians and Podiatrists.

If you have any FCP related queries please contact the SEL FCP leads: sarah.friel@nhs.net and nadia.bashir@nhs.net

FCP Education and Training

To work as a first contact practitioner, an education and training course will need to be completed. These courses are based on the road maps to Practice for each profession (MSK/Paramedics/OT/Podiatry/Dietican) and are available via higher education institutes (HEI). There are two routes ways to complete the HEI course; taught route and the supported portfolio route. This standardisation assures governance and ultimately patient safety, ensuring capability to see and manage undifferentiated and undiagnosed presentations within an agreed scope of practice. The CQC will expect to see evidence or assurance that staff recruited into FCP roles have completed education and training for their role (source - CQC Mythbuster).

Taught Module Route

NHS England has funded places available for eligible FCPs with eight Education Providers. All providers are delivering Stages 1 and 2 and can offer places to eligible FCPs across England, regardless of the region they are working within. Applications can be made directly to the HEIs.

All FCP trainees will still require a suitable supervisor in practice and those who have completed the roadmap supervisor training will be very well placed to fulfil that role.

Supported Portfolio Route

The supported portfolio route is via higher education institutes (HEIs). This will run alongside the existing taught route.

An individual may choose to do the supported portfolio route if they already have already started to compile a portfolio of evidence. A Learning Needs Analysis will help identify how far an individual is towards completion of both Stages 1 & 2. The LNA is designed to determine what your learning needs are and what route will best suit your learning style and circumstances. Appropriate support will be offered from the HEI, for some, there may be sufficient evidence of completion and the education provider will confirm this, for others, there may be a need to complete various elements of the process.

To access this, application is via the HEIs. HEE have compiled a list of Education Providers that are providing FCP training.

A suitable supervisor is still required to support work place based assessments as part of stage 2. This can be someone who has completed the roadmap supervisors course or someone who has suitable supervision training for your area of practice.

Independent portfolio route (until end of April 2024)

Previously there was an independent portfolio route available, however this route closed in April 2024.

FAQs about the August 2023 changes to the GCP Roadmap and its completion.

Resources

FCP Bulletins

Other Resources

Roadmaps to Practice

Resources for Supervision of FCPs

The FCP Roles