Transforming Roles paper 9: allied health professions advanced practice

Recommendations and Future Work

Together the CAHPO statement^[22], HCPC standards, professional body publications and this Transforming Roles paper form a suite of resources for employers to support and develop these roles.

Recommendations

Scottish Government, Scottish Directors of AHP and NES will work collaboratively with educational partners to:

1. Seek assurance, evidenced through workforce data, that AHP advanced practice roles are embedded in the transformation of services in line with national policy^{[1-3, 9]}.

2. Invest in the infrastructure required to support AHP advanced practice leadership locally, regionally and nationally, including promoting AHP engagement in the Advanced Practice Academies.

3. Develop new and existing AHP advanced practice roles, to support service transformation, with the level of investment based on service priorities, demographic data, workforce requirements, anticipated impact and contribution to reducing health inequalities.

4. Adopt an integrated multidisciplinary service and workforce planning approach to identify the need for new AHP advanced practice roles beyond existing AHP services and roles, ensuring this is included in board workforce plans and reflected in national workforce planning.

5. Identify existing AHP advanced practice workforce using the CAHPO statement^[22] and ensure accurate recording of this workforce on the appropriate digital system.

6. Encourage use of protected learning time to develop a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate working at level 7, including required capabilities, evidence of portfolio moderation, recognition of prior learning and ongoing development across the four pillars of practice.

7. Ensure structures and systems are in place to meet the supervision and mentorship requirements of advanced practice AHPs.

8. Support the implementation and embedding of the guidance outlined in Transforming Roles Paper 9.

Future work

1. Gather feedback on the use of Transforming Roles Paper 9 identifying any ongoing requirements.

2. Support and embed the use of AHP advanced practice trainee roles, by developing KSB frameworks and educational pathways, across at least two areas of practice over the next 12 months.

3. Work with subject matter experts to develop KSB frameworks, specifying the evidence required to demonstrate advanced practice across all four pillars of practice, and establish an agreed sign-off process.

4. Work with the subject matter experts and education providers to identify educational pathways to support the development of advanced practice roles.

5. Identify areas where AHP advanced practice frameworks already exist and adapt them to ensure alignment with Transforming Roles Paper 9.

6. Develop proposals to support the supervision needs of advanced practice AHPs, outlining the resources required for both supervisors and supervisees.

7. Identify and agree national measures to demonstrate the impact of AHP advanced practice roles on both service user outcomes and service delivery.

8. Publish further AHP Transforming Roles papers to provide guidance on the development of specific advanced practice roles.