1 October 2026
The Allied Health Professionals Federation (AHPF) believes the Health Bill presents an important opportunity to strengthen Allied Health Professional (AHP) leadership across the health and care system
The AHPF, which brings together the UK’s Allied Health Professional bodies and representative organisations including RCSLT, represents more than 190,000 AHPs working across health, social care, education, justice and voluntary sector settings.
AHPs play a vital role in supporting people to stay well, preventing avoidable hospital admissions, enabling timely discharge, supporting rehabilitation and helping people live independently for longer.
Their expertise is central to delivering the government’s ambitions for prevention, neighbourhood health and more sustainable health and care services.
As the NHS continues to reform, leadership structures should reflect the contribution AHPs make to patient care, service redesign and population health outcomes.
The AHP Federation is therefore calling for stronger and more consistent AHP leadership and representation within NHS decision-making structures, ensuring the perspectives and expertise of the AHP workforce are embedded in the planning and delivery of services.
We urge the Government to use the Health Bill to strengthen system and professional leadership, enabling more effective workforce planning, service improvement and delivery of high-quality care.
Strengthening AHP leadership will:
- support better multidisciplinary decision-making
- improve service design and delivery
- help drive prevention and earlier intervention
- strengthen rehabilitation and recovery services
- maximise the impact of the NHS workforce.
This autumn, the AHPF looks forward to working with parliamentarians and NHS leaders to ensure AHPs are able to contribute fully to the future direction of health and care services.
