NAHP Chair Manifesto 2021-23

My name is Esther Clift and I am a Consultant Practitioner in Frailty based at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

I have had a long relationship with the BGS as a member and served as Cliff Kilgore's deputy for two years on the NAHP Council Committee. I stepped back after that to focus on my new consultant role and to complete my doctorate. During this time, I became Chair of the BGS Wessex region, organising regional conferences and representing Wessex at the BGS England Council meetings. As these things are nearing completion, and manageable, I feel I would like to step up to support the superb MDT working of the BGS. The Nurses and AHP Council has grown from strength to strength over recent years, and there is growing recognition of the value to patients for robust MDT working, which is so well modelled within the BGS.
 
I bring expertise in growing our workforce with older people, having developed the Advanced Clinical Practice Community Rehabilitation healthy ageing credential for Health Education England (HEE). I am passionate about community-facing services to support older people to stay at home, although worked for many years in ED, inpatient wards for older people, as well as bed-based rehabilitation.
 
I have some influence as a consultant in frailty, and links across the country with amazing practitioners, and I look forward to hearing from everyone involved in this field and growing the membership and contributions to the BGS.
 
Communication is key to growth and innovation, both listening and sharing great ideas, and the BGS is an impressive conduit for this, and influencing national policy to support older people.
 
I enjoy contributing to a number of other organisations, as a clinical adviser for the Wessex AHSN faculty, and a trustee for a local charity Caraway- spiritually resourcing older people, as well as in my role as a commissioned Anna Chaplain for older people.
 
I am very much looking forward to chairing the NAHP Council, continuing the excellent work of past Chairs and the Council Committee, and representing Nurses and AHPs on the BGS Board.
 
My priorities will be:
  • To continue to grow membership throughout the four nations from students to experienced clinicians.
  • Ensure that NAHPs have representation at all levels of working within the BGS
  • Continue to develop and grow inclusive Communities of Practice for Advanced Practice, Research and Leadership, enabling all of the workforce to participate fully.
  • Resource and enable all BGS meetings and conferences to represent the whole MDT in both their speakers and participants.
  • Strengthen the NAHP research voice within the BGS, and further afield, building capacity and confidence
  • Work wholeheartedly alongside BGS staff to enable the widest inclusion of NAHPs in communications, policy development, and strategy development for the BGS