There are lots of reasons to celebrate the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) Allied Health Professions Careers Fellowship Scheme! Here are just a few:
Congratulations
1: We welcomed Cohort 4 onto the Scheme in April 2022. You can find out more about the Fellows’ projects this year by clicking here;
2: March 2022 saw Cohorts 2 and 3 complete their Fellowship despite two years of obstacles from persistent COVID-19 disruption and uncertainty;
3: Coming up on the 30th June we are holding a celebratory event for Fellows from Cohorts 2 and 3 with the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, this will enable the Fellows to meet face-to-face for the first time;
Quality Assurance
4: In response to the pandemic, the Fellowship development programme went fully virtual. An independent evaluation concluded that the transition has been successful in terms of enabling Fellows to access support and development and to connect with each other;
5: An independent audit of the Fellowship reached an overall assessment of ‘significant assurance’ (the top rating for the audit process) identifying areas of good practice in terms of contributing to local and national priorities, demonstrating impact, and the overall application process and support for applicants;
6: Also, a recent internal NES Directorate Review gave the Scheme specific recognition for the unique development opportunity it offers members of the Allied Health Professions;
New ways of working
7: For 2022 a new coordinator for the scheme has been introduced. Audrey Taylor has taken on a new role within NES and Pete Glover will be supporting the Scheme;
8: We are piloting the NES AHP Team being more involved as educational mentors for the Fellows to further consolidate their learning and career development aspirations;
9: An updated evaluation framework to have a stronger focus on impact of the Scheme is being introduced;
10: We are exploring the concept of an Alumni for the Scheme as a potential way to monitor the long-term impact of the Scheme on the Fellows’ careers and their projects and to offer ongoing connection and opportunities.
So what is the Scheme?
The Scheme opens in the late summer each year and offers a unique opportunity to support career development for the AHP workforce in the public health and social care sector in Scotland. It does this by funding registered and support worker AHP staff up to two days a week for approximately 10 months to:
- participate in a learning programme delivered by NHS Education for Scotland in a cohort, and
- lead and deliver a work-based project to improve, change or develop AHP services.
We are now into in the 4th year of our refreshed scheme where we fund approximately 15 people to lead a significant piece of work/ project in their workplace. We aim to support their development of capability and confidence across the Four Pillars of Practice. In doing so the scheme acts as a steppingstone to future career opportunities, for example, in leadership, education or service improvement.
A blog-a-week to celebrate
We encourage Fellows to produce a blog with the purpose of developing their story telling skills as a way of sharing their work and highlighting impact, and to refine their written communication and influencing skills. These blogs often end of being published on various sites. Currently, there are 14 blogs published by Fellows on AHPScot Blog. You can find them by using the search filter at the top of the page and selecting ‘Career Fellow’.
As we build up to the celebratory event on the 30th June, AHPScot Blog are going to be publishing two blogs a week (Monday and a Thursday) from a Fellow; some will share outcomes from their projects, and others share reflections that relate to their project topic. We hope you enjoy reading them. The first blog is by Pat Gilmartin on Thurs 9th June, titled: Working from the inside out, rather than from the outside in. He shares his reflections as a Fellow from co-developing a social enterprise called Dynamic Wheel with people with lived experience of mental health issues or other hardships.
Authors:
Peter D. Glover, interim coordinator for the AHP Careers Fellowship Scheme, @PeteAHPed &
Audrey Taylor, @AudreyNESahp
Organisation: Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions (NMAHP) Directorate,
NHS Education for Scotland
AHPs across health and social care. 