You are here
Helping to ensure an essential supply of AHPs
Contents
Delivery of the ambitions of the NHS Long-Term Plan requires a sustainable supply of trained and highly skilled AHPs.
HEE is working closely with the Office for Students (OfS) to monitor the number of students training to become AHPs. We are developing a long-term strategic plan to stabilise and develop the professions, working with the AHP professional bodies and other partners.
Initiatives include:
Placement expansion and innovation
A robust and sustainable approach to good quality placements and learning environments is critical for us to effectively expand our workforce by growing the number of Allied Health Professionals in education. To deliver this Health Education England are working collaboratively across professions, universities, Royal Colleges, professional bodies, and with our regulators to share learning and build ambition. Click here for more information.
Making the step into health - case studies
People who have been in the armed forces have a great set of transferable skills that will be a credit to any NHS organisation. Health Education England has spoken to a number of AHPs who have previously worked in the armed forces to develop a suite of video and written case studies to share their real experiences making their step into a career in the NHS. See all the case studies by clicking here.
Widening routes to the professions
HEE is committed to widening the supply routes to the AHP professions via the apprenticeship programme.
Allied Health Professions (AHP) Careers Awareness Toolkit
The AHP Careers Awareness Toolkit page is designed to provide you with resources and signposting to support you in raising awareness of allied health professional (AHP) careers to those aspiring to work in health and social care.
This toolkit supports the implementation and delivery of the Health Education England AHP Careers Awareness Strategy 2022/2025.
You can access the toolkit by clicking here.
Apprenticeships for both AHP support roles and pre-registration programmes offer new ways for people to enter the AHP workforce and widen participation.
HEE is supporting the development of apprenticeships and exploring how they can be used to optimal effect. This will improve access to, and growth of, the professions at a time when vital AHP skills are needed for NHS sustainability.
The apprenticeship programme includes the development of apprenticeships at support worker through to consultant level, across a range of AHP disciplines. You can find out more on the Skills for Health Apprenticeships website
Deep dives into the professions aid understanding of the complex issues that allied health professions face, and the contribution they make to multi-disciplinary teams. They also aim to give us an understanding of the current position of the profession and of employers’ views on the current education and training challenges and opportunities
Deep dives have been undertaken with the podiatry, therapeutic radiography and the operating department practitioner professions and used to develop action plans.
HEE supports the Return to Practice programme that aims to help Allied Health Professionals and Healthcare Clinical Scientists (HCS) re-join the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register.
NHS employers are being encouraged to use Return to Practice in all AHP workforce strategies. New ways of supporting returnees are being explored and shared across the health and social care community to improve workforce capacity.