UK Parliament debates Allied Health Professionals as workforce decisions approach

The debate took place as the health and care system continues its shift towards neighbourhood health, prevention and bringing care closer to home, and as the UK Government prepares to publish its 10-Year Workforce Plan later this spring. These reforms are intended to reshape how services are designed, staffed and delivered for the coming decade.

The debate was secured by Sonia Kumar MP, Chair of the All‑Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), reflecting growing parliamentary interest in how AHPs contribute to prevention and care closer to home.

Ahead of the debate, occupational therapists wrote to their MPs, setting out the realities of practice and the pressures facing services. MPs repeatedly referenced workforce evidence submitted by the RCOT and the Allied Health Professions Federation (AHPF) throughout the discussion.

Neighbourhood health needs the right workforce 

Across the debate, MPs returned to a shared challenge: ambitions for prevention and care closer to home will only succeed if the workforce is in place to deliver them.

Neighbourhood health models rely on multidisciplinary teams embedded in communities, supporting people in their homes, schools and workplaces. MPs warned that without sufficient capacity in professions such as occupational therapy, the shift from hospital‑based care to neighbourhood services will stall. Recognition of AHPs’ contribution, they argued, must now be matched by workforce planning that reflects how and where care is actually delivered.

Children and young people: early intervention depends on workforce 

The debate took place against the backdrop of recent reforms to children’s services, including the Government’s Schools White Paper and the proposed Experts at Hand model, which aims to provide earlier, specialist support for children and families in education settings.

A central question running through these reforms is whether the workforce exists to deliver them in practice. Recent RCOT figures shared with MPs showed that demand for children’s occupational therapy continues to outstrip capacity, with 56% of occupational therapists* unable to meet local demand and nearly 18,000 children and young people waiting for occupational therapy support earlier this year.

These contributions closely align with our Right Support Right Time campaign, strengthening the case for early preventative approaches that support inclusion, reduce escalation and relieve pressure on education and health services.

MPs warned that delays to occupational therapy intervention can lead to escalating need, placing greater pressure on schools, families and statutory SEND services. Several contributions made clear that without occupational therapists embedded in education and community settings, the Experts at Hand model will struggle to achieve its intended impact.

The forthcoming 10-Year Workforce Plan, expected later this spring, was pointed to as a key opportunity to address workforce capacity and better enable professions such as occupational therapy to work at the top of their skills.

Work, health and participation 

Beyond children’s services, the debate highlighted occupational therapy’s role in supporting people to stay in or return to work, adapt to illness or disability and remain active in their communities.

MPs shared examples of how occupational therapists support everyday activities, from adapting homes and workplaces to rebuilding daily routines after illness or injury. These contributions linked occupational therapy directly to wider priorities on economic inactivity, participation and independence.

Independent prescribing: enabling neighbourhood health to work 

The debate also highlighted how expanding AHP roles can support the shift towards neighbourhood health, when workforce planning enables those roles to be used effectively.

Extending independent prescribing was raised by MPs as an example of how AHPs can help improve access to care, reduce pressure on doctors and deliver more timely support for patients. In community and neighbourhood settings, such capabilities allow professionals to respond more quickly to need, reduce duplication and streamline care pathways.

What the Government said in response 

Responding to the debate, Karin Smyth MP, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, agreed with MPs that AHPs will be ‘central’ to delivering the Government’s priorities for health and care.

She pointed to the forthcoming 10‑Year Health Plan and the 10‑Year Workforce Plan, both expected this spring, as a key opportunity to optimise the contribution of AHPs, including occupational therapists, by enabling them to work at the top of their skills.

The Minister reiterated the Government’s commitment to the three major shifts facing the system: 

• more care delivered in the community
• a stronger focus on prevention
• better use of data and digital

She emphasised that AHPs already work across neighbourhoods, supporting prevention, rehabilitation and independent living and described this combination of clinical autonomy and team‑based working as exactly what is needed to redesign services around people’s day‑to‑day lives.

On workforce, the Minister acknowledged both the scale of the AHP workforce and its breadth across health, social care and education settings, stressing that future reforms depend on having the right workforce in place to deliver them.

* More than half of respondents (56%) in survey carried out by RCOT of its members working with children said they’re unable to provide the level or type of support children in their area need.