CSP: Comments of the Allied Health Professions Federation (AHPF) on the final report of the NHS Next Stage Review by Lord Darzi

Grahame Pope, Chair of the Allied Health Professions Federation said,

'Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), support the emphasis of the Review on the quality of care, not only to the individual but to society as a whole. AHPs take a patient centred approach that encourages high quality, needs focussed service for the individual and their carers, throughout the entire pathway of care.

A quality service recognises the importance of:

· access to the right service/professionals at the right time - in this way AHPs can, for example, help reduce unplanned admission to hospital for people living with a long term condition or prevent the onset of long term incapacity, including addressing conditions that might otherwise prevent someone from working for example as with stroke survivors
· choice of service - what, how, where and when - the recent self-referral pilot projects have demonstrated how greatly people, especially the older age group, value having the option and how much such a system encourages personal responsibility for health and well-being and faster return to function
· the dignity of the individual and seeing the patient as a person - listening to and valuing the knowledge and views of the person are fundamental tenets of the approach of AHPs that focuses on capability and potential rather than disability
· AHPs upon integration of care - AHPs have long been working as the integrators of care for their role in supporting the individual along their care pathway as well as at specific points. Working in a variety of settings and roles such as tackling obesity in children and adults, orthopaedic triage in hospitals or working with people living with cancer in their homes to enable them to manage their situation and condition more effectively. AHPs are well placed to act as clinical leaders across multi-disciplinary and multi-agency teams to deliver such high quality services.

The Review recognises the changing demands and expectations we all have of the NHS and AHPs look forward to playing a key role in achieving the aspirations identified for delivering a quality NHS.’

For further details contact:
Gary Robjent
tel. 020 7306 6624
mob. 07796 545 144

For further information, please reply to robjentg@csp.org.uk