Raising Awareness of the Allied Health Profession in Line With the Strategy for England

A recent 3 month collaboration between Just R and Tameside and Glossop AHP teams delivered over 150 enquiries of interest from a range of allied health professionals including Radiographers, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists.

Making up the third largest clinical workforce in the NHS against a national shortage of practising allied health professionals, the challenge was a short term campaign geared towards raising awareness of AHPs in line with of the national AHP strategy for England, along with the opportunity to reach and attract any passive and active candidates seeking a role in a Trust which is focused on the support and development of their people. 

There are a vast range of professions involved, and with those being a vital cog in the smooth runnings of a hospital, AHP attraction and retention is one of the most important challenges that all Trusts currently face. Not only was the attraction of existing AHPs to work at the Trust a priority for the campaign, but so too was reaching out to the future generation of potential candidates: a vital objective as part of this campaign. 

The AHP strategy for England reflects how AHPs work in “multidisciplinary teams, so that those who identify as part of the AHP community working in a variety of health and care sectors can use it to continually improve and redesign services”. Building a stronger AHP community is a key part of this: to raise awareness of what AHPs do, and champion AHP professions and the services that they offer to communities. 

Just R worked with the Trust to showcase each profession and to elevate awareness of the roles, their place in a hospital and in a community, and provide snapshots of the work that they do to further encourage people to take the path of an Allied Health Professional. We added a dedicated page for AHPs to the Tameside & Glossop recruitment website and created real-life interview videos with members of the existing team who were able to express their passion for their role and their workplace, both driven to by a digital marketing campaign which reached over 1.3 million people. 

Three months is the minimum time recommended for a digital marketing campaign to gain momentum, due to the amount of impressions necessary to encourage people to click the all important call to action button, and for consistent messaging to tell the story of the Trust and roles available.