Introduction and navigation
The Allied Health Professional (AHP) Skills Maximisation Toolkit are a series of resources which aim to support AHP teams to consider and agree actions to maximise the contribution of their AHP team(s).
The toolkit supports all HCPC-registered and non-registered Allied Health Professional (AHP) teams through co-productive processes which contribute to redesign of services and workforce planning.
If some words and terms in this toolkit are unfamiliar to you, then you may wish to refer to our glossary.
Navigation
This section aims to help you navigate the AHP Skills Maximisation Toolkit.
Q: Who is the toolkit aimed at?
A: All levels.
The AHP Skills Maximisation toolkit aims to support teams of HCPC-registered and non-registered staff through co-productive processes which contribute to redesign of services and workforce planning. Also, the toolkit may be useful with a wider range of multi-disciplinary teams.
The toolkit guides you to which resources you may wish to engage with, depending on your learning level and team needs.
You can find a summary table of which parts of the toolkit are used by Explorers, by Participants and by Facilitators/Leads at the links below:
The aim of the AHP Skills Maximisation is to take individuals along with their teams on a service improvement journey. Participation in AHP Skills Maximisation workshop activities enhances your knowledge and understanding of:
- Service Improvement Processes
- Quality Improvement Methodology
- Partnership Working
- Collaborative Team Working
- Importance of current policy and research on service improvement and development
- Skill mix and the importance within a team and service
Uniqueness and the importance of adding value to a service through maximising individual team members contribution.
Real stories
Speech and Language Therapy:
Across the SLT teams there were different approaches and views on service provision. To begin to address this, they collected service user data for a month and designed a survey to understand beliefs about the service. A Skills Max workshop followed, sharing feedback individually and within teams, addressing concerns, such as the belief that more time was spent on dysphagia than communication disorders.
To turn this information into action, the team asked what to keep, do more of, change, stop, or start. Changes were grouped into skill mix, referral system, and training for service users, and the following service changes were identified:
Skill mix: The team identified a need for more skill mix, creating an assistant practitioner role. This allowed senior staff to focus on complex work and develop group sessions.
Referral system: Changes to the referral system included revising forms to include more specific questions, not accepting referrals with insufficient information, and offering phone advice to referrers. A team database was also developed to standardize referral information.
Training for service users: Training was introduced to improve understanding of the speech and language therapist's role and the referral process, helping other healthcare professionals and service users utilise the service effectively.
Further information
To find out more about learning levels of knowledge, skills and behaviours within the Facilitating Learning Pillar
- Registered AHPs: please use the Development Needs Analysis Tool (DNAT) within the NMAHP Development Framework
- Non-registered AHP colleagues: please use the Development Needs Analysis Tool (DNAT) for levels 2-4.
Feedback
We hope you enjoy exploring the site and have found it useful. We welcome your feedback to inform ongoing development of the site.
If you have any comments, ideas or suggestions, please complete the short feedback form or email us directly at postreg.nmahp@nes.scot.nhs.uk