It is easy to think of health care professionals as coming in just two guises – doctors or nurses. But, modern healthcare requires levels of specialisation in so many different of different practitioners, often known as allied health professionals. Usually, the allied health professions cover all those diagnostic, technical and therapeutic roles which are not carried out by doctors or nurses. Allied health jobs can be found in fields as varied as dentistry and cardiology, elderly care and art therapy. Jobs in radiography, jobs in occupational therapy; the list is enormous, with each person playing a important part in a multidisciplinary team.

It is also a misconception that allied health professionals only take on work delegated by medical consultants. In fact AHPs have their own case-loads, perform their own professional diagnoses and assessments of the patient’s needs and often meet with patients one-to-one, making it crucial that they possess excellent patient care skills.

Some AHPs will spend much of their time in a highly medicalised environment, such as theatre practitioners or those with jobs in radiography. Many other allied health jobs, such as music or play therapists are in an entirely different setting, demonstrating the range of opportunities in the allied health professions.

Given the diversity of jobs in healthcare, it is unsurprising that different levels of qualification are needed for each role and different levels of specialisation and responsibility are also possible in most areas. With seniority, many allied health positions provide the additional opportunity of managing a team of specialist practitioners.

It is a well-known fact that the NHS is Britain’s biggest employer and AHPs make up around 60% of that work force. As well as looking for permanent jobs by the traditional method, AHPs also have a range of other options open to them. An entire industry has grown up around the recruitment of these crucial members of the health care team. Agencies specialising in the allied health professions can locate locum positions and temporary cover options as well as finding permanent opportunities in both the NHS and private practice.  Agencies can be a helpful way of saving time when looking for allied health jobs, especially when considering work with a number of Primary Care Trusts as they gather a number of opportunities in one place. Their web-sites usually provide search options making job-hunting much simpler, so for instance, if a candidate is looking for jobs in radiography in East London, they are not obliged to trawl through jobs in occupational therapy or jobs in Glasgow. Some agencies will also know of openings which are not being publicised anywhere else so it can be worth contacting them, even if you are fairly sure of where you wish to work.

Please visit http://www.abouthealthprofessionals.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.abouthealthprofessionals.co.uk/

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