By Linda Hindle, Deputy Chief AHP Officer, Public Health England, and James Gore, Director of Education & Standards, Faculty of Public Health
Three years ago the Allied Health Professions (AHPs) agreed a collective ambition to be recognised as an integral part of the public health workforce. Since then AHPs have developed their public health contribution and profile, and there have been some excellent examples of AHP public health initiatives.
We want to support AHPs to share and celebrate some of the fantastic work happening already, which is why Public Health England (PHE) and the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) are delighted to be co-sponsoring the public health award at next year’s Advancing Healthcare Awards.
Previous winners have commented on the opportunities applying for this award has created in terms of profile and recognition.
In this blog we want to showcase winners from the past four years and encourage AHPs to consider applying for this prestigious award.
Previous winners have so far included occupational therapists, dietitians, physiotherapists and paramedics, but we have had applications from members of most of the AHPs.
In 2014 Mary Jardine and Allison Black from NHS Ayrshire and Arran won the award for their ‘whole system approach for women’ which was developed to divert women from the criminal justice and court systems with the aim of reducing offending behaviour and targeting the reasons for offending. This project showed clear outcomes in terms of health and re-offending and involved partnership-working between statutory and voluntary organisations across health, criminal justice, social and community organisations
Winners in 2015 were Lisa De’Ath and her team from the Family Food First Programme in Luton. This programme aims to encourage families with young children to adopt healthy lifestyles in order to reduce the burden of disease such as obesity and tooth decay. The team work in early years settings, such as nurseries, pre-schools and children centres, to promote and adopt healthy-eating messages. This is an example of AHPs using their unique skills and working through other partners to support population-level outcomes.
In 2016 Emma Holmes and Katie Palmer lifted the trophy. Emma and Katie are dietitians from Cardiff whose innovative project used food facilities during the school holidays to provide meals and educational play for children in need. The project involved working with more than 20 partners from the public, private and third sector. As well as addressing health problems, they provided affordable childcare to support families during school holidays.
Last year’s winner was Gillian Rawlinson, a physiotherapist from Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust, whose project embedded health promotion within musculoskeletal physiotherapy services. This collaborative service redesign incorporated opportunistic health assessments, NHS Health Check and diabetes checks within routine physiotherapy assessments. This resulted in a holistic service for patients, improved assessment and an income generating a financial model. Gillian has blogged about her experience of winning this award.
Ruth Crabtree and Tom Hayward from Yorkshire Ambulance Service were highly commended for their pathway to support ambulance service staff to identify, support and signpost people who would benefit from support to reduce their alcohol intake. This example demonstrated how a making-every-contact-count approach can be adopted in a systematic way across a full service.
We know there are many other excellent projects like these.
Applying for an award can take time, but this is generally time well spent regardless of whether the project wins. The process of making an application helps to raise the profile of the work internally and externally. It is also a useful in supporting reflection on what has been successful with the project and where it can go next.
This year we hope to profile all of the shortlisted applicants because we know it is not just the winners who have undertaken excellent pieces of work, and we want to use this as an opportunity to share good practice as much as possible.
So what are the judges looking for and how do you apply?
We will particularly be looking for examples of AHPs which have shown leadership and partnership in working to deliver effective health improvement interventions across a population or with the potential to be broadened to a population level – with evidence of impact, value for money and sustainability.
You have until 19 January 2018 to apply, so don’t put it off; start thinking about your application today.
Better Health For All 