Frontline professionals at the heart of modernising healthcare

Professionals at the front line of delivering healthcare in Northern Ireland, including those working in dietetics, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, are at the heart of modernising services to meet today’s needs, a conference has heard.

The inaugural conference, ‘AHPs – Transform Care’, held yesterday [23 October] in Lisburn, examined how this group, known as the Allied Health Professions (AHPs), are central to the ‘Transforming Your Care’ programme which is reshaping how health and social care is delivered so that more services are provided in the community, closer to people’s homes, in a way which is planned and delivered around the needs of the individual, and tailored as far as possible to suit them.

Michelle Tennyson, Assistant Director for Allied Health Professions (AHP) and Personal and Public Involvement with the PHA, explained: “AHPs are a diverse group of health professionals who deliver high-quality care to patients in a variety of different settings across a wide range of care pathways.

“This diversity is what makes them essential to the successful transformation of how health and social care is delivered.

“For example, practical interventions from AHPs are often significant in enabling people to recover movement and mobility, overcome visual problems, improve nutrition, or develop communication and everyday living skills, thus allowing them to sustain and enjoy quality of life even when faced with life-limiting conditions.”

The Allied Health Professions include practitioners from the fields of:

•          Dietetics
•          Occupational therapy
•          Orthoptics
•          Physiotherapy
•          Podiatry
•          Radiography
•          Speech and language therapy.

The conference brought together AHPs, senior decision makers and those responsible for the advancement, training and education of the science and practice of the profession, to examine key developments within the field.

Michelle continued: “AHPs are essential to delivering integrated health and social care, but are often not recognised for their unique skills. They deliver a range of interventions that contribute to improved quality of life for people and are crucial given that people are living longer with long-term conditions and need care closer to home.

The conference also celebrated success to date, awarded the most innovative approach to reshaping how AHPs deliver care and reviewed recent developments.