Job summary
Whitstable Medical Practice has an exciting opportunity for a Frailty Practitioner to join our General Practice Older Persons (GPOP) Team, who has a passion for frailty and older peoples care.

The post holder will be a registered healthcare professional working at Band 6 level, providing specialist clinical input to the assessment and ongoing care of older people living with frailty, or at risk of frailty-related decline. They work autonomously within their professional scope and are accountable for their own clinical decisions and conduct.

The role centres on holistic assessment, early identification of frailty, prevention of deterioration, personalised care planning, coordination of multidisciplinary care, and timely escalation of clinical concerns. The post holder works as a member of the GP Older Persons Team and as an integral part of the practice team. As a member of this team the post holder will be expected to work independently, with clinical supervision available from an Advanced Clinical Practitioner to support decision making where needed.

The GP Older Persons Team are responsible for the day to day medical support to the residential and nursing homes in Whitstable, provide specialist assessment to older people living at home with frailty.

Main duties of the job

• Carry out clinical consultations, within their competence, with older people living with frailty.
• Undertake structured frailty assessments and holistic clinical reviews.
• Identify patients who may be living with, or at risk of, frailty.
• Assess common frailty syndromes and their impact on function, independence, and quality of life.
• Identify the clinical, functional, psychological, social, and environmental factors contributing to frailty or decline.
• Assess mobility, falls risk, nutrition, cognition, and continence
• Contribute to personalised care planning based on what matters most to the patient including completing RESPECT forms.
• Recognise signs of acute deterioration and escalate promptly.
• Support proactive management of patients at risk of avoidable hospital admission.
• Coordinate care with the wider multidisciplinary team and liaise with community and secondary care services.
• Support patients and carers to understand their condition, care plan, and available support.
• Provide safety-netting and appropriate follow-up.
• Recognise the limits of their own competence and escalate or seek advice when needed.
• Maintain accurate, up-to-date clinical records.
• Contribute to audit, quality improvement, and service development relating to frailty.
• Recognise a deteriorating patient approaching end of life and provide support to patients, families and care home staff within their scope

About us
Whitstable Medical Practice is a forward thinking single Primary Care Network (PCN), GP Practice based across three sites in Whitstable, Kent looking after 45,500 patients.

Feel valued, supported and have the opportunity to shape the future.

Be apart of the only GP practice named in the NHS 10-year Health Plan for its innovation and care.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a progressive and ambitious practice where your ideas, professional development and well-being are genuinely valued.

Support from our experienced clinical teams, including;

• Pharmacists to help with medication changes /issues
• Home Visiting Team Paramedics
• Very Helpful Nursing and HCA teams
• Supportive management and administrative teams
• Exceptional secretary support, including referrals.

Our state-of-the-art buildings provide access to a wide range of services and facilities, including:

• In-house phlebotomy
• X-ray
• Ultrasound
• DVT diagnosis and treatment
• Minor Injury Unit
• Dermatology including our award-winning QiC Team of the Year
• Echocardiography
• Ophthalmology
• Gynaecology
• LSI
• Minor surgery
• And many, many more ...

As is typical across the country, we are experiencing an increasing elderly population which is placing additional pressures on the local health economy. There are 10 care and nursing homes in the area all of whom are registered with the practice.

Details
Date posted: 25 September 2026
Pay scheme: Other
Salary: Depending on experience - equivalent to Band 6
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time
Reference number: A2876-26-0024
Job locations: Estuary View Medical Centre, Boorman Way, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 3SE, United Kingdom

Job description
Job responsibilities
Care homes and community-based care
The post holder will support older people in care homes and the community, reviewing patients after a change in health, supporting falls prevention and care planning, liaising with care home staff and families, and helping to reduce avoidable emergency attendances or admissions.

Frailty assessment
The post holder will:

• Identify patients with mild, moderate, or severe frailty.
• Review relevant medical, functional, and social information.
• Assess functional ability and any change from the patient's normal baseline.
• Identify recent or recurrent falls, and mobility or balance difficulties.
• Recognise possible cognitive impairment or delirium, and escalating where needed.
• Identify nutritional concerns, weight loss, or poor appetite.
• Consider continence and toileting difficulties and making appropriate referrals
• Identify potential medication-related contributors to decline.
• Consider social isolation, carer strain, and the home environment and making appropriate referrals.
• Recognise red flags that need urgent medical review.
• Communicate findings clearly to the wider team.

Holistic clinical assessment
Within their professional scope, the post holder will:

• take a clinical history;
• review medical records, diagnoses, and recent hospital or community contacts;
• assess changes from baseline and consider functional status, multimorbidity, and safeguarding concerns.
• Identify possible infection, dehydration, malnutrition, delirium, or falls as causes of decline, and recognise when further investigation or medical assessment is required.

Managing frailty syndromes

• The post holder helps identify and manage common frailty syndromes, including falls, reduced mobility, functional decline, cognitive impairment, delirium, nutritional decline, continence problems, dizziness, polypharmacy, social isolation, and carer stress.
• They identify appropriate interventions within their scope and coordinate referrals to other services, such as GPs, community nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, pharmacy, falls services, specialist frailty or memory services, social care, and palliative care where appropriate.

Clinical decision-making

• The post holder demonstrates sound clinical reasoning appropriate to Band 6 level, making independent decisions within their scope, recognising significant deterioration, and balancing clinical evidence with the patient's circumstances and preferences.
• The post holder would identify the limits of their own knowledge or experience, seek advice from senior clinicians, GPs or specialists when needed, escalate promptly where safety may be at risk, and document their reasoning clearly.

Multidisciplinary working
The post holder works closely with GPs, practice nurses, pharmacists, advanced practitioners, community nurses, allied health professionals, social workers, care coordinators, care homes, and specialist or secondary care services, contributing relevant clinical information to MDT discussions for patients with complex needs.

Safeguarding
The post holder recognises and responds appropriately to safeguarding concerns involving older people, including neglect, abuse, carer breakdown, and unsafe living circumstances, following practice and local safeguarding procedures.

Supervision and governance
The post holder has access to a named senior clinician and GP support, takes part in regular clinical supervision, reflective practice, and audit, and maintains appropriate professional indemnity. They work within relevant professional standards and the practice's clinical governance policies.

Continuing professional development
The post holder maintains ongoing development relevant to frailty, falls, delirium, dementia, nutrition, multimorbidity, medicines awareness, safeguarding, mental capacity, and end-of-life care, identifying learning needs through supervision, appraisal, and clinical practice.

Quality improvement
The post holder contributes to safe and effective frailty services through audit, service evaluation, review of falls and hospital admissions, development of care pathways, and MDT learning, supporting a culture of continuous improvement and patient safety.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

• Post registration experience gained by undertaking on-going personal development and training.
• Experience of working with patients with frailty, including being able to identify different levels of frailty and how that effects the patient.
• Experience in clinically assessing patients independently, arranging investigations, considering differential diagnoses and implementing management plans.
• Experience of working with long-term conditions.
• Good understanding of current health care issues.

Desirable

• Involvement in the implementation and management of change.
• Experience underpinned by knowledge of working with and understanding the complex needs of patients in a primary care/community setting.

Skills and Abilities
Essential

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to holistically and independently assess a frail patient.
• Ability to advocate patient issues.
• Ability to demonstrate leadership skills.
• Excellent organisation skills including the ability to make decisions and prioritise.
• A degree of autonomy, analytical skills and multidisciplinary knowledge in caring for patients.
• Decision making skills and problem solving skills.
• Ability to understand and interpret information/evidence based care and apply to practice.
• Ability to work within your scope and escalate safely and appropriately when required.
• Critical thinking.
• Good IT skills.
• Assertive, adaptable and flexible.
• Empathy and compassion.

Desirable

• Experience of completing Comprehensive Geriatric Assessments.

Qualifications
Essential

• Experience and fully qualified Healthcare professional.
• Registered Practitioner holding current registration with NMC or HCPC.

Desirable

• Frailty or End of Life Care modules/qualifications.
• Clinical assessment module if not included in your registration qualification.

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.

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: Whitstable Medical Practice
Address: Estuary View Medical Centre, Boorman Way, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 3SE, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.whitstablemedicalpractice.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
HR Officer
Jodie Gasking
jodie.gasking@nhs.net
01227284335

Details
Date posted: 25 September 2026
Pay scheme: Other
Salary: Depending on experience - equivalent to Band 6
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time
Reference number: A2876-26-0024
Job locations: Estuary View Medical Centre, Boorman Way, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 3SE, United Kingdom

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.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration.