More than 400 senior Allied Health Professions leaders and others from a multitude of professional backgrounds are attending the annual Chief Allied Health Professions Officer Conference in London today.

The event builds on the 2015 theme of ‘AHPs as Innovators and Entrepreneurs’ to move to ‘AHP Innovation Delivering #FutureNHS’. This focuses on the solutions AHPs can deliver to the challenges faced in New Care Models and outlined in the Five Year Forward View.

Suzanne Rastrick, NHS England’s Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, will give the opening address, reflecting on the achievements over the last 12 months, looking forward to the future with the co-creation of the AHP Mandate for Change and launching three key initiatives:

• AHPs4PH a Facebook group of AHPs with an interest in public health.
• #EEAHP Evidence for Everyday Allied Health is a Cochrane UK series with the aim to give AHPs relevant evidence and resources, in quick and easy formats, though social media.
• #WeActiveChallenge and #AHPsActive a healthy competition to inspire, motivate and encourage, through a sense of community, role modelling a healthy lifestyle by being active.

NHS England’s Chief Executive Simon Stevens will address the conference via live video link, while on the main stage there will be an impressive line-up of key discussion leaders renowned for their innovative theory and application in practice.

They include Daniel Mortimer, Chief Executive of NHS Employers, and Roz Davies, Managing Director of We Love Life and Recovery Enterprises.

Delegates will also be taking part in workshops where they can take away innovative ideas from their AHP colleagues who will present their solutions to the challenges they have faced in the delivery of care and quality, and health and wellbeing, and efficiency.

• The Chief Allied Health Professions Officer’s Conference is being held today at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London.
• Follow #CAHPO16 on twitter
• Live main stage presentations can be viewed by periscope via @WeAHPs