Why I am putting AHPs on the right tracks to success in Urgent, Emergency and Crisis Care
Disclaimer: These are my views and reflections, based on my professional experience and passion for integrated care. They do not necessarily reflect those of any specific organisation.
After 25 years working within the NHS, I’ve seen both the brilliance and the breaking points. I've felt the pressure, heard the frustrations, and watched too many colleagues burn out. But I’ve also witnessed incredible innovation, dedication, and the relentless commitment of people trying to do the right thing—often against the odds.
And here’s what I’ve come to realise: the future of urgent, emergency, and crisis care relies not just on what we do, but how we do it and who we do it with. If we want a system that’s fit for the future, Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) must be recognised, empowered, and embedded as a core part of that transformation.
From Overwhelm to Opportunity: Where We Are Now
Yes, the system is under strain. Funding remains tight. Demand is rising. Complexity is growing. But we must resist the narrative that it’s all broken. I really believe this can be fixed!
The latest NHS Ten Year Plan - Fit for the Future - lays out a bold and necessary shift toward prevention, personalised care, and fully integrated neighbourhood teams. It envisions a health and care system, that is proactive rather than reactive, digitally enabled, and rooted in local communities.
This isn’t just a policy. It’s an invitation. And AHPs are uniquely positioned, and ready, to answer that call.
Why AHPs? Because We’re Already Doing It
AHPs are often the hidden engine rooms of the NHS—quietly but powerfully preventing deterioration, assessing acuity, supporting recovery, and promoting health and wellbeing across physical and mental health.
Let’s be clear. Every single one of the 14 AHP professions has something vital to offer in urgent, emergency, and crisis care:
Chiropodists/Podiatrists can prevent deterioration and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions through early intervention not just treating the foot but the whole lower limb! This is already highly recognised in diabetes care but could be common place in other conditions and patient groups too.
Dietitians also play a critical role in preventining deterioration by addressing vital nutritional needs to support health and prevent acute illness. Dieticians are also commonplace in acute care where nutrition is just as important in supporting recovery from illness and injury.
Art Therapists, Music Therapists, and Drama Therapists offer trauma-informed approaches that reduce escalation in mental health crises, especially in children and young people.
Paramedics are increasingly working in advanced clinical roles across urgent and community settings—bridging prehospital and neighbourhood care to bring their expertise in recognising and managing acuity to the patient whether and whenever they go into crisis.
Operating Department Practitioners are increasingly offering their skills in emergency care and now also in pre-hospital critical care response to support and manage critical illness, vital in ensuring the best possible patient outcomes.
Orthoptists support rapid assessment of visual disturbance in stroke, head injury, and neurological crisis.
Osteopaths offer musculoskeletal expertise and can reduce the burden on overstretched primary and urgent care services by treating chronic muscular-skeletal pain to prevent acute on chronic flare ups.
Radiographers (both diagnostic and therapeutic) enable timely diagnosis and treatment decision-making across urgent and cancer pathways. Radiographers are also increasingly taking more of a lead on facilitating discharge, as well as early identification of concerning results.
Speech and Language Therapists can both prevent acute deterioration and promote recovery through assessment and management of swallowing difficulties. Speech and Language Therapists can also address communications which can be vital in conditions that affect a person’s communication, to ensure that they can communicate effectively when they need help and support.
Physiotherapists experties in respiratory care, physical therapy and rehabilitation can play a vital role throughout the urgent, emergency and crisis care pathway through preventing deterioration and supporting recovery from acute episodes.
Occupational Therapists can also play an important role throughout the pathway by addressing the person’s occupational and environmental needs to ensure that they continue to carry out activities that are meaningful and purposeful, and can remain at home or return home to support their on-going recovery and rehabilitation.
Prosthetists and Orthotists are also an essential part of the early recovery from acute foot and limb problems in both supporting recovery and preventing secondary complications such as pressure ulcers that can develop.
Of course, this is non-exhaustive list of examples and AHPs are increasingly expanding their skills and adapting to new clinical settings to respond to the needs of the person.
In short, AHPs offer both early interventions to prevent crisis and support recovery from crisis. We reduce dependency on health and social care, offer dignity and restore a whole-person approach whilst ensuring system efficiency.
A New Model for a New Era
We must move beyond reactive, fragmented care. The AHP offer is not a “nice to have”—it’s central to delivering the kind of integrated, person-centred care the 10-Year Plan envisions.
Here’s my vision for what that could look like:
1. Neighbourhood-based MDTs with AHPs at the Core
AHPs should be embedded across integrated neighbourhood teams, bringing timely therapeutic expertise into people’s homes and communities, to prevent crisis and support recovery. This isn’t just efficient—it’s empowering.
2. Emergency and Urgent Response Vehicles Pairing Paramedics and AHPs
Many AHPs can offer incredible value by responding to the emergency alongside a paramedic, whether it’s a medical emergency, an urgent response or mental health crisis. This not only offers a more holistic patient assessment but also supports collaborative working when the person needs it the most.
3. Digitally Enabled Prevention and Monitoring
With better digital systems, we can predict and prevent crises in long-term conditions. AHPs can play a critical role in interpreting data, adjusting interventions, and personalising care—particularly for patients with frailty, multimorbidity, or complex mental health needs.
4. Expanded Access to Non-Pharmacological Interventions
Let’s widen the offer beyond medication. Therapeutic activities, dietary interventions, psychological therapies, movement and sensory regulation all have strong theoretical and emerging evidence bases. AHPs can lead this charge.
5. Reimagined Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Our young people need different solutions. AHPs can offer a range of effective interventions in different settings ensuring that interventions are creative, accessible, and centred on lived experience in both one to one and group settings.
What Needs to Change?
The truth is, AHPs are already delivering enormous value. But it’s not always seen, not always understood, and not always funded.
To realise the vision of Fit for the Future, we need:
Leadership that includes AHP voices in system-level decisions.
Investment in AHP roles at all levels, including advanced and consultant practice.
Training that supports AHPs to work across boundaries, make autonomous decisions, and lead integrated care.
Public understanding of what AHPs do and why it matters—because people can’t ask for what they don’t know exists.
My Commitment
Through TE Tracks, I’m committed to training, championing, and connecting AHPs across urgent, emergency and crisis care. My journey-from ambulance control to Occupational Therapist, educator, and system advocate—has taught me that impact comes from courage, collaboration, and believing that we can do better together.
And we can.
AHPs should not be an afterthought in the future of care. We are the bridge between health and prevention, between crisis and recovery, and between surviving and thriving.
So let’s ensure that we put AHPs on the right tracks to success in UEC, so that we can improve care and outcomes, and support the NHS to achieve its vision over the next Ten Years and beyond!
If you are an AHP working in urgent, emergency and crisis care then please do get in touch by completing the form below. I would love to hear from you and keep you updated on my work!
