The healthcare landscape
Recent developments in healthcare
In recent years, several new documents, guidance and reports have been published that calls for a revision of how Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) work within our current healthcare structure. These documents, and the HEE Programme, provide us with a great opportunity to assess, review and evaluate how effectively we are using our expertise. Below are some key pieces of guidance including:
- The Saks Report
- The Allied Health Profession's Strategy for England
- First Contact Practitioner and Advanced Practitioners in Primary Care (podiatry): A roadmap to practice
- NHS Long Term Plan
- HCPC Standards of Proficiency
The Saks Report
In November 2021, the Royal College of Podiatry published the Saks Report, a landmark report looking at the future of podiatry. It made 28 recommendations on what the profession needs to do to develop, sustain itself and thrive in the future.
The Report describes the building vision for podiatry to lead in lower limb health, by focusing on five key areas:
- Leadership
- Research and data
- Recruitment and retention
- Influencing
- Perception.
Find out more about the Saks Report
The Allied Health Profession's Strategy for England
The Allied Health Professions (AHP) Strategy for England: AHPs deliver, published in June 2022, is for the whole Allied Health Profession (AHP) community: support workers, assistant practitioners, registered professionals, pre-registration apprentices and students.
It has been developed to provide strategic direction to the AHP community across England to maximise the AHP contribution to the aim of improving health outcomes for all, providing better quality care, and improving the sustainability of health and care services.
Five areas of focus have been identified for the next five years, each complemented by a set of ambitions.
- Focus 1 – People First: AHPs support people with the right tools to manage their mental and physical health and AHPs work to prevent illness and treat people early to help improve health and wellbeing in communities
- Focus 2 – Optimising Care: The NHS is facing increased pressure and AHPs can help to reduce this by working in different areas of care, for example, the introduction of First Contact Practitioner Roles (FCP)
- Focus 3 – Social Justice: AHPs must focus on working with their local communities to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes for all
- Focus 4 – Environmental Sustainability: To achieve this, AHPs must act now by working more sustainably
- Focus 5 – A stronger AHP community: Increased recognition of AHP roles by the public.
First contact practitioner and advanced practitioners in primary care (podiatry): A roadmap to practice
This document provides a roadmap of education for practice when moving into First Contact Practitioner (FCP) roles, and onward to Advanced Practice (AP) roles in Primary Care. It sets out:
- The definition of FCP roles, their respective training processes, and educational pathways
- The definition of AP roles, their respective training processes, and educational pathways
- How to build a portfolio of evidence for both FCP and AP roles
- How to support training with relevant supervision and governance, and how to connect with Health Education England’s guidance.
Download the Roadmap to Practice here
NHS Long Term Plan
The NHS Long Term Plan, first published in January 2019, was developed in partnership with those who know the NHS best: frontline health and care staff, patients and their families, and other experts.
The NHS Long Term Plan highlights the increasing health and wellbeing demands of our population and puts forward a new service model of care, in which AHPs are better utilised to meet these needs. This model includes GP practices working together in primary care networks to cover larger populations, and within these networks, AHPs working in FCP roles to optimise care and reduce the burden on GPs.
The NHS will be enhancing social prescribing, empowering service users to take control of their health, promoting self-care, and utilising digital advances to improve service delivery. AHPs can support the drive for preventative movements by embedding health promotion techniques, partaking in evidence-based prevention programmes, and empowering their local communities to live healthier lives.
Read more about the NHS Long Term Plan
The NHS Long Term Plan focuses on how the NHS structure can support the population's needs. However, private practitioners in podiatry can, and should, access this document for further reading around the trajectory of health conditions forecast to increase over the next 10 years to reflect on current services provided and how these can be adapted to ensure they meet the health needs of the local population and by doing so, support local NHS Trusts and services. Furthermore, continued professional development (CPD) courses in mental health and health promotion, as examples, can help to support both the trajectory for AHPs to support GPs, and also meet the updates in the HCPC Standards of Proficiency.
Health and Care Professions Council Standards of Proficiency
The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) sets out the professional standards all registrants must meet to become registered, and remain on the register.
This movement of AHPs increasing scope and breadth of support offered to service users has been reflected within the HCPC Standards of Proficiency update.
A refresh on the standards of proficiency can be found here.