Allied Health Professions (AHPs’) Day
Friday 14 October 2022, taking place across the country.
What is AHPs’ Day?
AHPs are the third largest healthcare workforce, with significant opportunities to support delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan. AHPs’ Day is an annual opportunity for AHPs to come together and celebrate being part of the AHP family, and 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.
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?
AHPs Day is for all members of the AHP community, including support workers, assistant practitioners, registered professionals, pre-registration apprentices and students, as well as anyone who wants to celebrate the great work that AHPs do and those who want to learn more about our wonderful professions.
What can we do to join in?
This is very much driven by local ideas and opportunities. Follow #AHPsDay on Twitter you’ll be able to see examples from last year as well as plans starting to take shape for this year. You can also find out more about last year from the WeCommunities.
Various events will be taking place up and down the country in NHS Trusts. If you have any questions or would like further information on the AHP Day you can contact: england.cahpo@nhs.net