A Consultant Nurse in Primary Care is a highly experience and expert individual who leads on improvements in patient care. They use their experience and knowledge of advanced clinical practice with education, research and leadership to enhance patient services and outcomes within general practice settings. Consultant Nurses in Primary Care bridge the gap between complex clinical needs with professional development and often manage conditions independently, as well as providing resource for other nurses and healthcare professionals. They demonstrate expertise across Clinical Practice, Education, Research, and Leadership.
- Provides strategic leadership and innovation in PCN-led service development.
- Leads on workforce planning and the professional development of nurses across the PCN.
- Drives improvements in population health outcomes, reducing health inequalities and improving access for underrepresented communities.
- Leads research, evaluation, and implementation of best practice to transform service delivery.
- Operates independently at an expert level, leading complex care management and service improvement initiatives.
- Works across traditional boundaries to integrate care with secondary, community, and social care partners.
- Adapt communication using active listening, clarification and awareness of verbal and non-verbal cues.
- Communicate empathetically and inclusively, responding to language needs, health literacy and preferences.
- Communicate effectively across face-to-face, remote, group and triadic consultations.
- Manage challenging environments, competing agendas and time-limited consultations safely.
- Use clear, jargon-free verbal, written and digital information to support understanding and empowerment.
- Build and sustain effective relationships with people, carers and families.
- Evaluate social, cultural, economic and environmental influences on health.
- Apply population health approaches, including All Our Health and Making Every Contact Count.
- Use population data to identify need and reduce health inequalities.
- Recognise psychosocial factors and utilise social prescribing and community support.
- Enable shared decision-making using motivational interviewing and personalised care planning.
- Promote self-management, resilience and community networks.
- Work within scope, seeking advice and escalating concerns appropriately.
- Collaborate across multidisciplinary teams and care settings to optimise care.
- Communicate effectively with colleagues using verbal, written and digital methods.
- Refer appropriately across primary, secondary and voluntary sector services.
- Contribute to service improvement, shared learning and team wellbeing.
- Demonstrate ethical practice, promote equality and maintain professional development and resilience.
Nursing Training Resource Document
The Primary Care Training Hub have collated a list of all available e-learning courses to the nursing workforce in primary care. We recommend to regularly check this document for newly added courses.
Primary Care Resources
The Primary Care Training Hub have developed an Online Training and Learning webpage to compile all available online training courses. These online courses are from a range of different training providers and provide amazing e-learning development opportunities for primary care staff.
This NENC Training Page collates all training that is available to all localities across North East and North Cumbria, commissioned by The Primary Care Training Hub.
e-Learning for Healthcare
The following resources can be accessed via e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH). E-LfH provides free e-learning programmes which can support you in your professional development. If you do not already have an account, click here to register using your NHS email address. If you already have an account, please use the same link to firstly log in to access the following resources.
- Resources for Nurses Deployed into Primary and Community Care: The learning resources provided here contain essential training materials to support Registered Nurses returning to work or being redeployed into a primary and community setting. This includes, GP surgeries, community and care home settings. The training here is intended to equip you with the basics and get you started and complement any training that you will receive in a local practice setting.
- All Our Health: This course contains the All Our Health bite-sized e-learning sessions to give health and care professionals an overview of topics including key evidence, data and signposting to trusted resources to help prevent illness, protect health and promote wellbeing.
- Wound Care: This e-learning programme aims to support the health and care workforce in developing the knowledge and skills required to enable appropriate wound care to be delivered to people in any setting.
- Dementia: The dementia e-learning modules have been designed to familiarise health and social care staff with approaches they can take to enable people living with dementia and their family carers to live as well as possible.
- Five Ways to Wellbeing: This course introduces the concept of wellbeing and describes how the Five Ways to Wellbeing can be implemented in a variety of settings to promote it.
- Making Every Contact Count (MECC): The MECC e-learning programme is designed to support learners in developing an understanding of public health and the factors that impact on a person’s health and wellbeing. It focuses on how asking questions and listening effectively to people is a vital role for us all.
- : General Practice Nurses work as part of a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) within GP surgeries and assess, screen and treat patients of all ages. In addition to providing traditional aspects of nursing care such as wound care, immunisations and administration of medicines, they run clinics for patients with LTCs.
- Management and Leadership Skills (MLS): These e-learning modules are designed to develop your knowledge and understanding of a range of management and leadership topics.
- Professional Clinical Nursing Leadership: NHSE introduced Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA) training across England post COVID-19 pandemic. This is to sustain an approach to restorative supervision and staff wellbeing, with the aim of improving staff wellbeing and retention, alongside improved patient outcomes.
- Educator Training Resources (ETR): This programme contains e-learning sessions for clinical educators and supervisors across the healthcare professions.
This list is not exhaustive and the programmes available are regularly updated, so we recommend visiting the e-LfH portal and reviewing the available resources via using the “View full catalogue” function, or the “Search the e-learning" function.
To ensure the role is supported within primary care, Consultant Nurses in Primary Care should have access to appropriate clinical supervision and an appropriate named individual in the PCN to provide general advice and support on a day to day basis. Clinical Supervision could be conducted by:
Advanced Practice Supervision - A Multi-Professional Learning Resource: this covers foundations of advanced practice, supervision, understanding advanced practitioners and developing your capabilities for advanced practice supervision.
Hold a qualified degree in nursing or registered nursing degree apprenticeship (RNDA). Local universities that offer the above qualification in nursing:
Hold a Masters degree and is working towards a PhD, Educational Doctorate or equivalent research qualification. Local universities that offer Masters and PhD/Educational Doctorate:
Equivalent Research Qualifications:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Doctor of Medicine
- Professional Doctorates
- Doctorate by Publication
Has extensive experience in advanced clinical leadership, service development, workforce planning, and system-wide innovation.
Registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and maintains revalidation in line with NMC requirements.
100% of actual salary plus defined on-costs, up to the maximum reimbursable amount of £109,943 over 12 months.
Professional Body Resources
The Nursing and Midwifery Council have provided guidance on regulations, standards and revalidation.
The Royal College of Nursing have provided background and useful resources for consultant level nursing.
Role Specifics
The RCN has developed definitions and standards for the enhanced, advanced and consultant levels of nursing to provide clarity for those members of the nursing workforce who aspire to practice at these levels, as well as for employers and higher education institutes (HEIs).
Role Overview
This updated DES 2026/27 outlines the role of the Consultant Nurse and what is expected from PCNs (page 112).
This document provides support to work and grow within enhanced practice.
This document outlines the scope and principles of enhanced practice.
Tools for Practice
Learn more about advanced practitioners and other clinicians working at an enhanced practice level and what they can do to support your multi-disciplinary teams across a wide range of care settings.
Jobs
If you are looking for a new position related to this role, we recommend checking both NHS Jobs and HealthjobsUK.
NHS Jobs is the official online recruitment service for the NHS in England and Wales, with over 30,000 jobs posted every month.
Hosted by trac.jobs, HealthJobsUK is among the leading job boards in the health and public sector within the UK.
