To mark Allied Health Professionals Day, the NHS in the South East is celebrating the vital role of AHPs in transforming health services, improving patient outcomes, and supporting the 10 Year Health Plan’s ambition to bring care closer to home, embrace digital innovation, and focus on prevention.

Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are at the heart of delivering high-quality, forward-thinking, patient-centred care across the region, with AHP-led initiatives making a difference to patient care daily. AHPS are the third largest clinical workforce in the NHS, making a crucial contribution to treating, rehabilitating, and improving the lives of patients, and being instrumental in delivering the 10-year health plan. The AHP family comprises of 14 different professions: art therapists, orthoptists, drama therapists, osteopaths, music therapists, paramedics, chiropodists/podiatrists, physiotherapists, dietitians, prosthetists and orthotists, occupational therapists, radiographers, operating department practitioners, and speech and language therapists.

In Hampshire, podiatrists Dr Lindsey Cherry, working in Sea City Primary Care Network Portsmouth, and Louis Mamode, First Contact Podiatrist/ Advanced Clinical Practitioner Portsdown Group Practice, Portsmouth, are demonstrating how AHPs can reshape primary care. By working in first contact roles in primary care they are ensuring that patients with lower limb concerns are seen quickly by the right professional.

By diagnosing and treating conditions such as diabetic foot complications and musculoskeletal pain at the first point of contact, they are preventing problems from escalating, reducing unnecessary referrals, and avoiding hospital admissions. Their work is helping patients access specialist expertise earlier, while also easing pressure on GPs and secondary care.

Meanwhile, in respiratory care, Consultant Physiotherapist Denise Gibson and her team are pioneering a physiotherapy-led long-term ventilation service across Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight. By using remote monitoring technology, the team can track patients’ ventilator use in real time, identify early signs of deterioration, and adjust treatment without the need for hospital visits.

This approach not only improves quality of life and independence for patients but also reduces demand on acute services. It is a clear example of how digital innovation, combined with AHP expertise, is enabling more proactive and personalised care in the community.

Emma Strain is an Occupational Therapist at Rowans Hospice, Hampshire, who has been working in palliative care for more than 10 years, she said, “For people living with a terminal illness, fatigue is often a huge and ongoing problem that stands in the way of enjoying the time they have left. Whilst there are various medications for many symptoms they may experience, there aren’t really any that can help with fatigue.

“After a secondment to a Long Covid unit I brought back an improved knowledge of how to help patients make the most of the energy they do have, to help them maintain and good standard of life, and I have built that in to learning sessions I deliver to patients either individually or in small groups.

“These started as face-to-face sessions in a hospice, but since seeing how sessions were delivered online at the Long Covid unit, we have adopted that method here, and take up of the offering has increased. Many patients find it far easier and more accessible to take part digitally, than having to come in to a centre.”

“The feedback from patients has been truly heartening, for example, one said they felt it helped them give themself ‘permission to make the necessary changes to live with the fatigue and embrace the changes’, that’s the exact result the sessions aim for.”

Together, these initiatives show how AHPs are helping to deliver the10 Year Health Plan in practice—by shifting care closer to home, preventing conditions from worsening, and making best use of NHS resources. Patients are receiving faster access to the right care, clinicians are supported by the specialist skills of AHPs, and the health system is becoming more sustainable as a result.

Sara Bolton, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for NHS England South East, said: “Allied Health Professionals are central to delivering the ambitions of the 10 Year Health Plan. These examples from Hampshire and across the South East show how AHPs are leading innovation, improving access, and transforming patient care.

“Whether it’s podiatrists helping to prevent amputations or physiotherapists using technology to keep people well at home, AHPs are making a real difference every day. On Allied Health Professionals Day, we are proud to celebrate their expertise, compassion, and the vital role they play in shaping the future of healthcare.”