@WeAHPs wanted to support the launch of @FabNHSStuff ‘Fabulous Friday Facts’ so we decided to fill our weekend feed with facts about #AHPs. We often get asked, ‘Allied Health Professions, Who are they?, What do they do?’ so we thought this should be our starting point. Please let us know if we have missed anything or if you want to add your own facts to share the knowledge about #FabAHPs Thanks

1. Allied Health Professions
Who are they? What do they do?
#FabAHPs
To support the launch of @FabNHSStuff ‘Fabulous Friday Facts’
we decided to fill our weekend feed with facts about AHPs.
We often get asked, ‘Allied Health Professions, Who are they?,
What do they do?’ so we thought this should be our starting point.
Please let us know if we have missed anything or if you want to add
your own facts to share the knowledge about #FabAHPs
If you want to post your own ‘Fabulous Friday Fact’ then please visit the Academy of Fab
NHS Stuff website - fabnhsstuff.net

2. Allied Health Professions
Who are they?
#FabAHPs
• Arts therapists
• Drama therapists
• Music therapists
• Chiropodists / Podiatrists
• Dietitians
• Occupational therapists
• Orthoptists
• Paramedics
• Physiotherapists
• Prosthetists / Orthotists
• Diagnostic & Therapeutic
Radiographers
• Speech & language
therapists
Distinct professions grouped under the collective ‘AHP’ umbrella;
There are a number of different approaches to defining who the allied health professions (AHPs) are, for this
purpose we have included those within the portfolio of the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, NHS England.
We recognise that there are other professions who would define themselves under the AHP ‘umbrella’. If you
would like to put together your own #FabAHPs blog shot then please let us know!

3. Allied Health Professions
What do they do?
#FabAHPs
• AHPs are the third largest & most diverse group of professionals.
• More than 1 in 20 of total NHS staff are AHPs.
• AHPs proactively use people centred interventions, supporting self-
management and care, with the aim of developing or maintaining physical,
mental and social functioning.
• Work in an integrated way across a wide range of locations and sectors.
• Respond to both acute and long term management, from public health
and primary prevention through to specialist disease management and
rehabilitation.
• They are accessible throughout the entire trajectory of life.
• Although the majority work for the NHS, many also work in social care,
education, and the private and voluntary sector.

4. What do they do?
Art Therapists
#FabAHPs
Support people with emotional, behavioural or
mental health problems, learning or physical
disabilities, life limiting conditions, neurological
conditions and physical illness using art as a tool
for expression and communication.
Ref: baat.org

5. What do they do?
Drama Therapist
#FabAHPs
• Use drama and theatre in therapy to support
the healing process and facilitate creativity,
imagination, learning, insight and growth.
• Work with people who are experiencing
emotional, behavioural and social difficulties.
Ref: badth.org.uk

6. What do they do?
Dietitian
#FabAHPs
• Assess, diagnose and treat dietary and
nutritional problems at an individual and
public-health level.
• Translate up-to-date public health and
scientific research on food, health and disease
into practical guidance to enable people to
make appropriate lifestyle and food choices.
Ref: bda.uk.com

7. What do they do?
Music Therapist
#FabAHPs
• Use music to help people connect with
themselves and others to facilitate emotional
wellbeing and communication.
• Particularly effective for people who have
difficulty communicating verbally due to illness,
injury or disability.
Ref: bamt.org

8. What do they do?
Occupational Therapist
#FabAHPs
• Provide practical support to enable people to
facilitate recovery and overcome barriers which
prevent activities (occupations) that matter to
them.
• Increase people's independence and satisfaction in
all aspects of life.
• Work with adults and children of all ages with a
wide range of conditions and in a variety of
settings.
Ref: cot.co.uk

9. What do they do?
Orthotist & Prosthetist
#FabAHPs
• Assess and treat the physical and functional
limitations of people resulting from illnesses and
disabilities, including limb amputations.
• Orthotists are specifically trained to work with
medical supportive devices, such as braces and
inserts.
• Prosthetists are specifically trained to work with
prostheses, such as artificial limbs and other
body parts.

10. What do they do?
Orthoptist
#FabAHPs
• Assess and manage a range of eye problems,
mainly those affecting the way the eyes
move using appropriate specialist equipment
and testing procedures.
• Prescribe eye exercises or refer for spectacle
lenses or eye surgery.
• Work in hospitals, clinics and schools.
Ref: orthoptics.org.uk

11. What do they do?
Paramedic
#FabAHPs
• Assess a person’s condition and give essential
treatment.
• Work at an accident or in a medical emergency,
working on their own or with an emergency
care assistant or ambulance technician.
• Also work in GP surgeries supporting timely
receipt of primary care.

12. What do they do?
Physiotherapists
#FabAHPs
• Help people affected by injury, illness or
disability through movement and exercise,
manual therapy, education and advice.
• Maintain health for people of all ages, helping
patients to manage pain and prevent disease.
• Facilitates recovery, enabling people to stay in
work while helping them to remain independent
for as long as possible.
Ref: csp.org.uk

13. What do they do?
Chiropodist/Podiatrist
#FabAHPs
Assess, diagnose and treat all aspects of care for
the feet and lower limbs, from offering
preventative foot care advice and addressing
common foot problems, to treating those patients
at high risk e.g. those suffering from arthritis or
diabetes who may be at risk of amputation.
Ref: scpod.org

14. What do they do?
Diagnostic & Therapeutic
Radiographer
#FabAHPs
• Diagnostic radiographers take images of the
insides of patients’ bodies to diagnose injury or
disease.
• Therapeutic Radiographers care for and treat
people with cancer.
• Deliver a sensitive, patient-focused healthcare
service using high-tech, expensive equipment.
Ref: sor.org
radiographycareers.co.uk

15. What do they do?
Speech & Language Therapist
#FabAHPs
• Support and care for people who have difficulties
with communication, or with eating, drinking and
swallowing.
• Assess and treat speech, language and
communication problems in people of all ages to
help them communicate better.
• Develop personalised plans to support people who
have eating and swallowing problems.
Ref: rcslt.org

16. Allied Health Professions
Who are they? What do they do?
#FabAHPs
There are a number of different approaches to defining who AHPs are, including:
• Professions represented by the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for NHS
England (as shown in this slide share).
• Those represented by the Chief Health Professions Officer for the Scottish
government
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/About/Structure/ChiefHealthProfessions
Officer
• The Allied Health Professions Federation
http://www.ahpf.org.uk/member_organisations.htm
• HCPC registered health professions
http://www.hpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/professions/
• Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_health_professions
@WeAHPs would like to use the wiki definition of 'health care professions distinct from
nursing, medicine, and pharmacy' as we're keen to involve everyone. So we have added a
profession. Would you like to add yours?

17. What do they do?
Operating Department
Practitioner
#FabAHPs
• ODPs are involved in planning & providing a
patient's perioperative care as member of team of
anaesthetists, surgeons, nurses and other AHPs:
• anaesthetic stage (pre-operative)
• surgical stage (intra-operative)
• recovery (post-operative).
• They mainly practice in operating theatres but also
in maternity, gastroenterology, x-ray, A&E, critical
care, resuscitation teams & inter-hospital transfers.

18. @WeAHPs
@jkfillingham
@NaomiMcVey
@HelenOwen3
weahps@outlook.com