The Career Framework for Health (Skills for Health, 2006) together with the Scottish Government guidance on the Career Framework (SGHD, 2009) provide a guide to the implementation of a flexible careers and skills escalation for the NHS and partner organisations. It enables individual staff members with transferable, competence-based skills to progress in a direction that meets workforce, service and individual needs and balances elements required for national consistency with maximum flexibility for local health organisations.

The framework can be used to describe the make-up of the team within which the advanced practitioner will work and also to provide a benchmark level against which the advanced practice nursing role can be articulated. It describes nine levels of 'roles' grouped according to their level of complexity and responsibility and the level of experience and knowledge necessary to carry them out. Advanced Practice is at Level 7 of the Career Framework. It should however be noted that the nine levels do not automatically read across from Agenda for Change (AfC) pay bands.

AfC is a pay system that incorporates three facets: job evaluation, the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF), and terms and conditions. It describes how staff will work and how much they will be paid. The Career Framework, on the other hand, is an enabling tool that provides a common language and currency to support career development. It defines the level of the post and the competences expected of the post holder, allowing identification of transferable roles and maximising workforce flexibility and clinical governance.

When linked with the NHS KSF, this can help individuals to visualise, articulate and plan their own career pathway, and supports planners and managers to analyse and shape skill-mix and service delivery models.  This toolkit is designed to support clarity around one specific level of the framework (Level 7) and the nurse working at an Advanced level of practice.