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AHP enhanced practice
This webpage provides insights and information about how we are embracing and implementing enhanced practice for Allied Health Professions (AHPs) across England.
Overview
Supporting the priorities outlined in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (2023), NHS England has now launched Enhanced Clinical Practitioner apprenticeships which provides an accredited career pathway for 10 AHPs.
Professionals will access the apprenticeship to train to deliver a high standard of complex, enhanced care for patients, using enhanced levels of clinical judgement, skills and knowledge across four areas of practice; clinical, leadership and management, education and research.
The AHPs who can now access the Enhanced Clinical Practitioner apprenticeship are:
1. Occupational therapists
2. Operating department practitioners
3. Osteopaths
4. Paramedics
5. Physiotherapists
6. Podiatrists
7. Prosthetists and orthotists
8. Diagnostic radiographers
9. Therapeutic radiographers
10. Dietitians
There is ongoing work to build other professions into the apprenticeship framework.
Schemas and model curricula
All 10 AHP enhanced clinical practice apprenticeships schemas and model curricula have now been combined and available on:
- Enhanced-Level Practice AHP Schema Combined - May 2024 [pdf, 4.62MB]
- Enhanced-Level Practice AHP Schema Combined - May 2024 for download [word, 3.91MB]
The schemas and model curricula provided are for use by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to support the development of profession-specific approved programmes within their institution. They aim to increase the scope of the delivery of the Enhanced Clinical Practitioner apprenticeship and to elevate those professions where there is less accredited training available at this level of practice. They are intended to sit alongside and inform other Enhanced Level Practice education and training programmes that exist currently or that are developed in the future.
NHS England has also published an HEI guide to enhanced clinical practitioner apprenticeship for AHPs which includes an FAQ.
All schemas have been developed in innovation partnerships including education providers, professional bodies and stakeholders across health and social care, and were developed separately, by nationally commissioned organisations. For this reason, there is some variation in the structure and format of the different schemas, but they all provide comprehensive information tailored to the specific AHPs.
To find out more about how the schemas were developed, Ruth Mhlanga, Professions Lead for AHPs at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, delves into the benefits of the Enhanced Clinical Practitioner apprenticeships, offering solution-driven prospects for AHPs and employers. Ruth also shares her pivotal role in tailoring the schemas to meet the population's needs. Watch more below:
Find out more
If you would like to find out more about starting an Enhanced Clinical Practice apprenticeship, contact your employer and apprenticeship lead.
The national AHP workforce, training and education team can be contacted at england.ahpnatprog1@nhs.net.
For more information visit:
- The institute for apprenticeships enhanced clinical practitioner webpage
- NHS England enhanced practice webpage.
2023
We’re delighted to share some significant progress in our work to develop nationally recognised profession-specific training schema and model curricula for the enhanced level practice apprenticeship applicable to the individual Allied Health Professions (AHPs).
Following a positive procurement exercise, we have successfully awarded four contracts to the following organisations:
- University of Salford
- Coventry University
- Sheffield Hallam University
- Institute of Osteopathy.
This is an important step in the development of AHP profession specific clinical academic qualifications enhancing the options available across the breadth of the career framework. Working collaboratively within innovation partnerships alongside education providers, professional bodies, clinical experts and employers, we are pleased that 10 of the AHP professions will be covered* by this piece of work.
Working to a timeline of delivery by the end of June 2023 this work will bring a blueprint for the delivery of profession specific content within the enhanced practice apprenticeship framework, alongside examples of key model curricular for each of the awarded professions critical to the delivery of 21st century care. This work will then be made available by HEE to other education providers to enable their delivery of the enhanced practice apprenticeship to cohorts of AHP learners. These apprenticeships will provide an alternative education route to co-exist alongside traditional education for the enhanced workforce such as post qualification certificates, professional development courses, degree, or master’s level qualifications.
The partnerships delivering this commission will incorporate a strong element of blended learning and technology enhanced learning (TEL), aiming to utilise the most up to date methods of education delivery.
Claire Arditto, Programme Lead and Regional Head of AHPs in the North East Yorkshire said:
‘I am delighted that 10 of our AHP professions will have access to profession specific enhanced practice apprenticeships for those delivering patient care in environments that are complex and require highly specialist levels of clinical expertise and leadership. We will be working closely with our innovation partners to develop training and upskilling fit for the future.’
We intend to explore opportunities in the future for enhanced practice schema for those professions not covered in this current phase of work. We will maximise the learning opportunities from the current work to develop robust approaches with these professional groups.
2022
In 2022, we commissioned the development of nationally recognised AHP profession specific schema and model curricula for enhanced level practice apprenticeships. To support with this we held a number of webinars.
View our frequently asked questions from our event on 22 September and our frequently asked questions from our webinar on 09 November.