Dr Lisa Ledger started a 6 month secondment with the ICB in March of this year, in the project role of Chief Allied Health Professional (AHP) to scope AHP leadership across the system and make recommendations where AHP leadership should be positioned in order to achieve greatest impact.
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are the third largest workforce in the NHS comprising 14 distinct, registered professions. They deliver solution-focused, goal-centred interventions that empower and enable patients to maximise their independence and harness their potential. They work across organisational boundaries practising in most clinical pathways. Crucially, without AHPs, there would be no patient flow through the system, making them an essential part of the patient’s healthcare journey.
Dr Ledger is passionate about the importance of the project: “I have worked across healthcare, community services and private sector in a career spanning over 27 years, more recently in the HEI setting at the University of Derby.
“I am qualified Occupational Therapist, with a passion for person centred practice and to provide the highest quality alongside effective delivery. I have specialist research and clinical skills in pressure ulcer prevention, rehabilitation and long term conditions. I am a compassionate, inclusive leader and have involvement regionally and nationally in several research, workforce and transformation spaces.
“I feel extremely passionate about the AHP project role, as AHPs have a unique and critical role to play in enabling the ICS to achieve it’s strategic intentions around prevention, tackling health inequalities and integration. If you wish to find out more about the project, please do contact me on l.ledger@derby.ac.uk.”
Did you know? There are 14 Allied Health Professions (AHPs): art therapists, dramatherapists, music therapists, podiatrists, dietitians, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, orthoptists, osteopaths, prosthetists & orthotists, paramedics, physiotherapists, diagnostic radiographers, therapeutic radiographers, speech & language therapists.