Scottish allied health professions public health strategic framework implementation plan: 2022 to 2027 midway report

Strategic Goal 2: Demonstrating Impact

Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) play a vital role in improving population health outcomes. To demonstrate their impact, we must move beyond input-based metrics such as face-to-face contact counts and focus on outcome-driven data that reflects population-level change. This requires consistent data descriptors and longitudinal tracking to evidence the benefits of AHP-led public health initiatives.

The Christie Commission (2011) highlighted the need for early intervention, prevention, and person-centred service design. Delivering on this vision demands leadership to reshape service models and allocate AHP resources to measurable population health activities as part of routine practice.

Embedding public health into AHP services requires cultural and operational change, with leadership committed to tackling health inequalities through early intervention and community-based expertise. Collaboration with universal services and community partners is essential to shift the balance of care.

Strategic decisions must be made about what to stop, start, and scale—underpinned by improvement methodology and robust data. Understanding the impact of poverty and inequality is key to designing place-based AHP services and evaluating their contribution.

Strong universal and targeted offers are central to reducing inequalities. AHPs in Children and Young People (CYP) services have made progress in this area, as outlined in Ready to Act (Scottish Government, 2016). Evidence from Ready to Act in Action (2018) shows that resourcing early intervention improves access, reduces demand on individual services, and builds community confidence.

Sharing Resources

Progress on Strategic Goal 2 includes the development of a Scottish AHP public health resource webpage by NHS Education for Scotland. This will link to key national resources including:

• The Royal Society for Public Health’s Allied Health Professions Hub and Everyday Interactions report
• The King’s Fund paper My Role In Tackling Health Inequalities: A Framework For Allied Health Professionals and NHS Health Education England’s Embedding Public Health into Clinical Services
• AHP public health webinars hosted by NHS Education for Scotland

Case studies are being actively collected to support this work.

Sharing Impact: AHP Careers Fellows

The AHP Careers Fellowship Scheme supports AHPs to lead work-based projects over 10–12 months, aligned with health and social care priorities. Public health and reducing inequalities have been key themes in recent cohorts. Fellows contribute through national webinars, oversight groups, and dissemination of project outputs including digital presentations and posters. Examples are included in the appendix.