Health and care systems in England and across the world face growing pressure from an ageing population, rising multimorbidity, workforce shortages, and increasing public expectations. Reliance on reactive, episodic models of care has contributed to long waiting times, variation in quality, and persistent inequalities in health outcomes. These challenges strengthen the case for prevention as a fundamental shift in how services are planned and delivered.
The ambition of the new 10 year Health Plan for England: Fit for the Future is clear: more care delivered closer to home, and a decisive move from treating illness to preventing it. Achieving this ambition depends not just on the structural components of health and care services but on how effectively our health and care workforce is mobilised to identify population health needs and intervene earlier, closer to home, and in ways that reduce unfair health outcomes in our communities, and avoidable demand on acute services.
AHPs as a Prevention Workforce
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are central to delivering this prevention agenda. In England, AHPs span 14 different professions, and work across the life course and the breadth of the system, including health, social care, education, justice, and the voluntary and community sector.
As part of the wider public health workforce, AHPs have specialist skills and knowledge to both prevent ill health from occurring and promote and improve wellbeing. They do this by combining clinical expertise with knowledge of the wider determinants of health, taking a holistic view of health and wellbeing to personalise care to communities and individuals and tackle inequalities. Though the definition of AHPs varies globally, they have these skills and knowledge in common.
The UK-wide AHP Public Health Strategic Framework 2025-2030 sets out a clear vision for public health to be embedded in all AHP roles, with their contribution to prevention recognised and valued. This strategic direction aligns closely with emerging neighbourhood models of care.
Realising the Potential of AHPs in Neighbourhoods
The move towards neighbourhood working in neighbourhood health centres and multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) detailed in the new neighbourhood health framework present a significant opportunity to embed prevention as “business as usual”. AHPs are well placed to lead this shift through two key routes:
Firstly, AHPs already deliver a wide range of prevention interventions in community settings. Many lead or work within MDTs that are closely connected to people’s everyday lives, integrating prevention into routine care rather than delivering it as a stand-alone activity. This includes education, screening and diagnostic interventions, support for independent living and participation in society, and clinical interventions that combine symptom management with secondary and tertiary prevention, particularly for people living with frailty and multiple long-term conditions.
Secondly, AHPs can bring valuable expert advisory and leadership capacity to neighbourhood teams. They combine specialist knowledge of interventions with expertise working with people, communities and across organisational boundaries to deliver a variety of personalised interventions that meet the needs and preferences of our population. Incorporating AHP leadership into neighbourhood service planning and design will ensure this specialist expertise is utilised, increasing skill-mix within pathways to reduce duplication and fragmentation, and tackle inequalities where they exist in access to preventative health services.
Case studies and research evidence showcase the impact of AHP roles and leadership in a range of community services, and evidence from the recent Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme in primary care directly shows the potential AHPs can have in communities. The challenge now is to scale and sustain this impact by building on existing delivery models as we transition to neighbourhood care. Without deliberate action, there is a risk that these roles and their leadership and clinical preventative impact are diluted or lost.
Going Further, Faster on Prevention
Making use of the existing AHP workforce is just one part of the puzzle to achieve the shift to prevention in neighbourhoods. We see four key opportunities where AHPs can support going further, faster on prevention.
- A culture of prevention
Neighbourhood care offers a cultural opportunity as much as a structural one. Prevention must be clearly articulated as a core objective of neighbourhood healthcare and reflected in policy, guidance, and operational delivery. AHPs have an important role in shaping this culture through direct work with communities and through advisory roles at local, regional, and national levels. - Workforce capacity and development
Sustaining the shift to prevention requires deliberate investment in AHP workforce capacity, including training, resources, and clear career pathways. Without this, there is a risk that prevention is deprioritised in favour of reactive care. Aligning national ambition with workforce capability is essential to making prevention routine in neighbourhoods. - Research and evidence
A persistent barrier to investment in prevention is the strength of the evidence base. Some AHP-led interventions are delivered at small scale or outside organisations with established research infrastructure. Embedding research and evaluation within neighbourhoods will be critical to demonstrating impact and maintaining long-term focus on prevention, a thought echoed in the Evidence Informed Policy Research Priorities Consensus, which names public health, the role of AHPs in neighbourhoods, and wider societal impact of AHPs amongst other priorities for research. - Data and outcomes
Neighbourhood systems must value outcomes that matter to communities, including independence, participation in work and society, and confidence in managing health. AHPs routinely consider and measure these outcomes and can offer important insights into how neighbourhoods define and use data, including economic impact.
Conclusion
Realising the potential of AHPs requires integration of existing services and expansion of interventions, investment in workforce, embedding relevant research and data, and a sustained commitment to prevention as a defining feature of neighbourhood healthcare. If these conditions are met, AHPs can play a unique and central role in achieving the ambitions set out in the 10 Year Health Plan for England, shifting the care to communities, from sickness to prevention, delivering better outcomes for individuals, communities, and the NHS.
You can find out more about the variety of AHP roles and their contribution to public health on the Royal Society of Public Health Allied Health Professionals Hub.
Author
Julie Lowe
Julie Lowe is a public health specialty registrar. She previously practiced as a Speech and Language Therapist and has worked closely with Public Health England and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to develop Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) as an essential part of the wider public health workforce, including co-authoring the AHP UK Public Health Strategic Framework 2025-2030. LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/jlowenhs
Declaration of Interests
No interests to declare.