North East London Integrated Care Board (NEL ICB) – which is responsible for allocating healthcare budgets in inner and outer north east London – joined AHP colleagues from ELFT, Barts Health and Homerton at Mile End Hospital on 8 April.
The purpose of the visit was to provide insights into the breadth and skills of the NEL Allied Health Professional (AHP) workforce, particularly showcasing the contribution of NEL AHPs to delivery of the three shifts of care to prevention, community based and digitally enabled.
AHPs are the third largest clinical workforce in the UK’s health and care system. 14 AHP professions work across the full spectrum of health and care pathways, education (including early years), academia, research, criminal justice system, independent and voluntary sectors.
AHPs adopt a holistic approach and play a crucial role in the health and care system by supporting assessment, diagnosis, treatment, recovery and rehabilitation. Their focus is on prevention and improvement of health and wellbeing to maximise the potential for people to live full and active lives.
NEL ICB’s CEO, Zina Etheridge, and Director of Allied Health Professionals, Hannah Harniess, began the tour with a visit to ELFT’s Arts Therapies team and Occupational Therapy (OT) Service within a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). They heard from colleagues about the work they are doing to support service users’ recovery through creative methods, helping them to overcome challenges in their daily lives.
Zina and Hannah later joined the Tower Hamlets Foot Health team. They learned about care provided for people with foot complications and conditions that could impact service users’ health. This included the homeless health outreach work by our podiatrists, and the importance of early interventions and addressing health inequalities
The third stop on the tour was to Barts’ Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) team, hearing about advancements in MRI safety and using AI to support image extraction.
Next up was a presentation from ELFT’s Community Integrated Mental Health (North) team. They work with GP practices, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations to support people with severe mental health problems. Zina and Hannah heard about the impact of widening access to OT and creative therapies (Dance and Movement Psychotherapy) to support individualised, community based care and early intervention.
The visit concluded with a workshop about ELFT’s collaborative tri-borough project with Homerton Healthcare and Leyton Orient Football Club to support children with developmental coordination disorder. This is a condition that impacts motor skill development, and the partners have worked together to provide football sessions with positive physical and psychosocial outcomes.
Zina Etheridge, Chief Executive, NHS North East London, said: "I was delighted to join colleagues for our second NEL AHP system visit where we had the chance to meet and speak to several AHP teams working across ELFT, Barts Health and Homerton.
"I was impressed by the dynamism, flexibility and innovation I saw – from ensuring use of AI in imaging doesn’t build in health inequalities to the compassionate, non-judgemental care in the homeless podiatry service. It was also great to see the work of occupational therapists and art therapists in acute mental health, and the uplifting work through movement therapy and football for those with developmental co-ordination disorder.”
ELFT’s Director of Allied Health Professionals, Fiona Kelly, added: “It was a pleasure to welcome Zina, Hannah and NEL AHP colleagues to Mile End Hospital, and I would like to thank colleagues for their leadership and sharing the impact of their work.
“Today demonstrated the diverse work and collaboration of NEL AHPs to optimise service users’ experiences and outcomes. I look forward to continuing conversations with partners to enhance our AHP services in east London.”
If you would like to learn more about the work of AHPs at ELFT, you can:
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Contact Fiona at fionakelly2@nhs.net
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Visit our AHP intranet page or AHP resources on the ELFT Learning Academy