Allied health professions
The Allied Health Professions comprise of art therapists, drama therapists, music therapists, chiropodists/podiatrists, dietitians, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, orthoptists, osteopaths, paramedics, physiotherapists, prosthetists and orthotists, radiographers, and speech and language therapistsThey provide high quality care to patients and clients across a wide range of care pathways and in a variety of settings that include, for example, hospitals, community, the independent & charitable sectors and schools. They work in health promotion to prevent accident or illness; they are active in treatment and rehabilitation and they promote self-help and independence.
Allied Health Professions have professional titles recognised by NHS England and protected by law. In order to use their professional titles – such as occupational therapist or speech and language therapist – each professional must be registered with the regulatory body, the Health and Care Professions Council www.hpc-uk.org.
More detailed information on individual allied health professions careers is available on the Health Careers website.
In the north east we work closely with our trust to ensure you have a positive experience after qualifying as a allied health professional and moving into employment.
We hope that the following resources provide you with the information you need to make this smooth transition.
- Physiotherapy
- Occupational therapy
- Speech and language therapy
The North West Allied Health Professionals Network provides professional leadership, advice and expertise, to enable the national, regional and local strategic and policy agenda to be influenced by AHPs.
The Allied Health Professionals Network engages AHPs in collaboration, providing support for the AHP workforce to deliver excellent healthcare and health improvement for patients and service users.
The Allied Health Enterprise Development Centre (AHEDC), which is a joint venture between Allied Health Solutions and Buckinghamshire New University, are developing an Allied Health Professions (AHP) tool to help determine AHP optimum staffing levels required across patient pathways.
In the short term a tool will help Allied Health service providers predict and propose staffing ratios and levels by band, to support the management of different patient pathways across acute, community and primary care settings. In the longer term, the tool will be used to inform how the AHP workforce could be constituted based on projected population health needs covering north west London.