Support Workforce

We recognise and value the important role our support workforce plays in delivering safe and effective care to those who access occupational therapy services across health and care. We are committed to ensuring our occupational therapy support workforce has access to appropriate education, training and development opportunities and resources to enable them to thrive.  

The HEE AHP Support Worker Competency, Education and Career Development Framework was published in October 2021. This project will help us to grow profession specific resources to support this framework. We want to promote the role and contribution of the occupational therapy support workforce, amplify the voice of the occupational therapy support workforce and ensure their learning and development needs can be met.  

We’ve recently formed a project advisory group. The group brings together support workers, apprentices, AHP leads, occupational therapists and others that share our commitment to our support workforce. A co-production approach for this project enables a genuine understanding of the roles, contributions and challenges our support workforce experience. A shared online workspace supports ongoing connection, discussion and collaboration alongside monthly scheduled meetings and to build a sense of community. Together, we will grow meaningful resources and activities to address the learning and development needs of our support workforce and those responsible for supporting them in their roles. 

Relevant insights from our recent occupational therapy workforce supervision audit will also be used to inform and provide a good overview of the broader AHP Support Worker project.