Allied health care professionals and support workers

The Allied Health Professions (AHPs) are the third largest workforce in the NHS.

In the main they are degree level professions, and are professionally autonomous practitioners. Thirteen of the fourteen AHPs are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) with Osteopaths regulated by the General Osteopathic Council (GOC).

AHPs provide system-wide care to assess, treat, diagnose and discharge patients across social care, housing, education, and independent and voluntary sectors. Through adopting an holistic approach to healthcare, AHPs are able to help manage patients’ care throughout the life course from birth to palliative care. Their focus is on prevention and improvement of health and wellbeing to maximise the potential for individuals to live full and active lives within their family circles, social networks, education, training and the workplace.

We employ nine types of the AHPs

Dietitians

Occupational Therapists

Operating Department Practitioners

Orthoptists

Orthotists and Prosthetists

Physiotherapists

Podiatrists/Chiropodists

Radiographers

Speech and Language Therapists

Accordion

Every year across the country the ’14 October’ is the day in which AHPs celebrate being part of the AHP Family. The day gives an opportunity to showcase to others the impact they make to the delivery of high quality care. The collaborations in services, organisations, trusts, regions and nationally enable:

Improved awareness of the role of the fourteen allied health professions

Showcasing the achievements of local services and their impact on patient care and population health

Integrated working with other services and organisations

Allied Health Professions (AHPs’) day

Background

In 2018 Rachael Brandreth, a dietitian and Carrie Biddle, a speech and language therapist, were sharing a bus home after a long challenging day at work, reflecting on AHPs into Action and how AHPs could deliver on their commitments and deliver even more impact. They had the idea of starting a social movement to celebrate everything that is great about AHPs, and tweeted the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, Suzanne Rastrick, to find out if they could have an AHP appreciation day. That evening, Suzanne retweeted that tweet and Twitter went crazy. There was so much support for the idea and in less than 24 there was buy-in from all 14 of the professions – and on 14 October 2018 AHPs’ Day was born.

Each year the scale of activity and energy has grown. In 2021, it was recognised by the AHP community that the social movement had achieved its goal, and AHPs’ Day was now mainstreamed and a regular date in the annual calendar. Our thanks go to Rachael and Carrie for the inspiration and energy that brought about this celebratory day.

Who’s it for?

All AHPs: Art Therapists, drama therapists, music therapists, chiropodists and podiatrists, dietitians, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, orthoptists, osteopaths, paramedics, physiotherapists, prosthetists and orthotists, diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers, and last but by no means least speech and language therapists. As well as anyone who wants to celebrate the great work that AHPs do and those who want learn more about our wonderful professions.

To see whats going on for this years AHP day following the twitter feeds for #AHPsDay

How to find out more

To find out more visit:

The 14 allied health professions