Publication - Strategy/plan
AHPs as agents of change in health and social care - The National Delivery Plan for the Allied Health Professions in Scotland, 2012 - 2015
The National Delivery Plan will apply to AHPs from across Health and Social Care and it will provide a strategic platform for future AHP activity, demonstrating the contribution and impact that AHPs can and do have on the delivery of national policy. It sets out a range of actions which require AHPs to be more visible, accountable, and demonstrate impact to the organisation and communities they serve.
Summary of recommendations
| No. | Action by | Delivery by end of |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NHS boards and local authorities will develop local implementation plans identifying how they intend to deliver and evidence the outcomes of the National Delivery Plan for the Allied Health Professions in Scotland. | 2012 |
| 2 | The Chief Health Professions Officer will lead annual reviews of progress against local implementation plans. | Ongoing, annually |
| 1.1 | AHP directors and directors of social work should work together to strengthen and embed professional leadership and governance infrastructure for AHPs working across health and social care to enhance integrated service delivery and outcomes for people who use services. | 2013 |
| 1.2 | AHP directors and AHP leads within community health care partnerships (CHCPs) (and the new HSCPs as they emerge) will provide professional leadership to strengthen the development of "enabling" services, including rehabilitation and reablement, across health and social care. | 2014 |
| 1.3 | AHP directors, with support from NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the NHSScotland Quality Improvement Hub, will further develop AHP capacity and capability in leadership and quality improvement methodologies to improve the quality of care within agreed priority areas. | 2014 |
| 2.1 | AHP directors will work within their NHS boards to ensure dedicated AHP support is established within emergency admission services, in line with best practice for emergency care (RCP, 2007), to prevent unnecessary admissions to hospital. | 2014 |
| 2.2 | AHP directors will work within their NHS boards to support falls leads within CHCPs (and HSCPs as they emerge) to implement integrated falls and fracture care pathways to reduce falls-related admissions to hospital in the over 65s by 20%. | 2014 |
| 2.3 | AHP directors will work with directors of social work and their NHS boards to maximise the AHP contribution to achieving delayed discharge targets and reduce overall length of stay in hospital, which will support the delivery of the legal treatment time guarantee.[5] | 2014 |
| 2.4 | AHP directors will work with directors of social work to support older people and those with disability and complex needs to live independently in their own home/homely setting for as long as possible, delaying or reducing admissions into institutional care. | 2015 |
| 2.5 | AHP directors will work with directors of social work to reconfigure "enabling" services, such as rehabilitation and reablement, to deliver best value and enhance care experiences for people who use services and their families and carers. | 2015 |
| 2.6 | AHP directors and AHP leads in local authorities, working in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland, will work to ensure the multisectoral delivery of early intervention and post-diagnostic support for people with dementia and their families and carers, in line with the national commitment.[6] | From 2013 onwards |
| 2.7 | AHP directors will work with AHP leads in health and social care and partners in care organisations, voluntary services and older people's groups to implement the National Personal Footcare Guidelines once published in late 2012. | 2013 |
| 3.1 | AHP directors will work with primary care leads, general practitioners and across their NHS board to support enhanced pathways in primary care which maximise AHP expertise as first-point-of-contact practitioners to improve the care experience and reduce unnecessary referrals to secondary and unscheduled care. | 2014 |
| 3.2 | AHP directors and AHP leads in local authorities will work in partnership with the third and private sectors, as well as other agencies, to enhance community capacity building and support early interventions as part of the implementation of the asset-based model and redesigning "enabling" services. | 2013 |
| 3.3 | AHPs from health and social care will ask people who use their services about their work status as an essential component of their consultation and will initiate support to individuals to enable them to remain in or return to work. | 2013 |
| 3.4 | AHPs from health and social care will use each consultation as an opportunity to improve overall health and well-being with people who use their services, focusing on issues such as physical activity, nutrition and mental well-being, and including signposting to relevant resources. | 2014 |
| 4.1 | AHP directors will work with AHP leads for children's services and AHP leads in social care to develop a transformational children and young people's service plan to meet the evolving needs of this care group and to provide an equitable and sustainable national model that reflects the early years agenda and the move towards integration of health and social care. | 2014 |
| 5.1 | AHP directors and AHP leads in local authorities will drive modern and productive working practices and undertake a review of existing working practices with a view to promoting efficiency, productivity and flexibility, with implementation of findings. This will include implementation of the recommendations in the Releasing Time to Care Stocktake Report. | 2014 |
| 5.2 | AHP directors will work within local planning arrangements to develop and drive implementation of a robust plan for delivering the shift towards increased AHP community-based activity. | 2015 |
| 5.3 | AHP directors will work in partnership with analytic and research colleagues to grow the health economic base for AHP interventions across health and social care services. | 2014 |
| 5.4 | AHP directors will work with senior radiology managers to report nationally on a standardised measure of musculoskeletal plain image reporting undertaken by radiographers. They will also work with strategic planners to develop and implement a regional/local plan to ensure effective use of reporting radiographers in their NHS board, driving sustainable multi-professional team delivery of diagnostic imaging services. | 2013 |
| 5.5 | AHP directors will work with directors of strategic planning and clinical leaders to explore, develop and implement a sustainable regional model of podiatric surgery integrated within orthopaedic services. | 2014 |
| 5.6 | AHP leaders across health and social care will lead innovation and improvement in the quality of their services, underpinned by data gathered from people who use services, their families and carers, to improve outcomes and demonstrate service impact. | 2014 |
| 6.1 | AHPs across health and social care services will monitor the quality of AHP service delivery, including user experience, by implementing the national data set and using quality measures/dashboard agreed for national and local reporting, particularly in relation to the nationally agreed outcomes for integration of health and social care services. | 2013 |
| 6.2 | AHP directors will drive the delivery of AHP waiting times within 18 weeks from referral to treatment, inclusive of all AHP professions and specialties (except diagnostic and therapy radiographers) with a target of 90% by December 2014. NHS boards will be expected to deliver a maximum wait of no more than 4 weeks for AHP musculoskeletal treatment within the same period. | 2014 |
| 6.3 | AHP directors will drive the expansion of self referral to all therapeutic AHP services (not diagnostic) as the primary route of access. | 2015 |
| 6.4 | AHP directors and leaders in social care should work collaboratively to significantly increase the utilisation of telecare and telerehabilitation as an integral approach to "enabling" services development, implementing pulmonary rehabilitation roll out as an exemplar model. | 2014 |
Contact
Email: Angela Worth
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback