Allied Health Professions Scotland Consensus Statement on Quality Service Values

Statement of need

There are 13 Allied Health Professions in Scotland representing 11,000 plus individual professionals. The thirteen professions are Arts therapists (Art, Music, Drama), Dieticians, Occupational therapists, Orthoptists, Paramedics, Podiatrists, Prosthetists and Orthotists, Physiotherapists, Radiographers (diagnostic and therapeutic), Speech and Language therapists.

Each of the Allied Health Professions is guided by their professional body and has unique clinical and professional standards. Many of these standards contain value based statements. Whilst these offer good examples of individual practice to draw on, until now there has been no single statement of core, common service values which transparently brings the Allied Health Professions together in partnership.

Many service users and other stakeholders across the sectors of health, social care, education and criminal justice as well as the third and independent sectors, are uncertain about who Allied Health Professionals are, how they deliver services and the quality outcomes they add value to.

This Consensus Statement brings together, for the first time, the minimum, collective service values of the Allied Health Professions into one clear statement and clarifies for service users what they can expect from Allied Health Professionals and Allied Health Professional service providers.