The Allied Health Professions Federation (AHPF) has published the AHP UK Public Health Strategic Framework for 2025-30.
Created to recognise the impact of AHP roles on public health and to support AHPs to continue to make a significant contribution to public health, the framework was jointly produced by AHP professional bodies and all four UK nations.
The document is available in English here and in Welsh here. The vision for the strategy is that public health is a core part of all AHP roles, and ensuring that the positive impact on public health by AHPs is recognised and valued.
This can be achieved by enabling AHPs to develop and deliver health and care services with communities that are based on promoting wellbeing and preventing ill health, with a focus on addressing health inequalities and ensuring sustainability.
A pressurised time
The first edition of the AHP Public Health Strategic Framework was published in 2019. Since then, said William Roberts, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, "much has changed".
"We have seen a growing gap in healthy life expectancy, an increase in demand for healthcare services, a cost-of-living crisis and lived through a global pandemic," he states in the document's foreword. "What hasn’t changed is the commitment of Allied Health Professionals to improve the health of those they work with by using their public health skills to help people to live healthier and happier lives."
Richard Evans, CEO of the Society of Radiographers, said the new framework is being released "at a time of enormous pressure" for the health service.
"However, anyone in healthcare knows that, without some progress on tackling the causes of ill health, we stand very little chance of seeing improvement for our patients or for ourselves and our hard-pressed colleagues," he continued.
"One of the great things about this strategy is that it is UK-wide. Wherever you work, why not find out what support is on hand to bring to life the excellent ideas in this strategy?"
To read the 2025-30 framework, and learn about the impact of the 2019-24 framework, click here.