Ensuring sufficient workforce supply is a key priority across the region, and enabling AHPs to return to practice is an important area of action. Supporting returnees helps local organisations to address current recruitment gaps, and the pandemic has created significant interest in returning to the NHS.

National support

All AHP returnees can register with HEE’s HCPC Return to Practice Programme via https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/return-practice-allied-health-professionals-healthcare-scientists.

This gives the returnee and supporting organisations a range of benefits, including:

• Personalised advice and guidance.
• £300 towards formal study course fees.
• £500 for out of pocket expenses relating to supervised practice placement (claimed via the host organisation).
• Online HEE E-learning modules.
• Links with potential supervised practice placement providers in their area.
• Access to closed Facebook group for peer support.

There are also Range of resources (flyers, branding and case studies) to promote and support return to practice in your system and organisation and guidance on readmission to the register is available directly from the HCPC.

What next?

The support of organisations across the region is crucial to support returnees, and we know that returnees value this support and welcome. Over the next few months the regional HEE office will contact individual organisations directly to support returnees to achieve their supervised practice placement hours.

In the meantime you can:

1. Share resources from HEE’s HCPC Return to Practice Programme with service managers and colleagues.
2. Use local workforce planning data to help develop plans to prioritise and support AHP return to practice within your organisation and system.
3. Share and join our forthcoming regional webinar on return to practice on the 6^th October.