Background details

Guest Hosts  @RachBrandreth @CarolineNhs @carrie_biddle

AHPsDay started as a social movement back in 2018, to bring AHPs together in a day of collective action to raise awareness of the allied health professions and to celebrate and appreciate the difference we make in our local communities.  We will be celebrating the 4th anniversary of #AHPsDay on Thursday 14th October 2021.

Successful social movements can mobilise and connect people around shared values and purpose and go on to become adopted by the mainstream. 

Networks are creative, iterative, dynamic spaces where ideas are shared around a common purpose.  Like social movements, networks are relational, and connectivity is key. An #AHPsDay Network will enable us to remain stronger together, continue to increase visibility and amplify our success in an annually recognised day of celebration.

Exploration with the AHP community and identifying next steps

A tweetchat took place on 25^th March – celebrating the inception and past success of AHPsDay over the past 3 years, exploring where we are now, and how the day might be strengthened in future via continued networking and collective ownership.   31 people engaged live, collectively creating more than 1.3 million impressions via 200+ tweets.

Poll results:

There were mixed views about how embedded AHPsDay is in the annual calendar, which likely reflects the maturity of local celebrations. “I think we need to look out, not in” (Glenn Westrop): there is opportunity for AHPsDay to augment its impact externally - increasing visibility for the AHP contribution to health and wellbeing of people and populations - by a stronger emphasis on connection and promotion to those external to the AHP family.

The future of AHPsDay: continued collective leadership

The group believed that ongoing connectivity was important, and it was suggested that the NHS Futures Platform would be suitable vehicle for offering visibility open access and collective endeavour. This will offer strengthened governance for the community, by the community - enabling the collective network.

Next Step Action:

Create an AHPsDay space for collaboration on NHS Futures Platform. Promote widely via social media, to Chief AHPs and to the existing community on the platform, and wider active #AHPsDay supporters enabling increased sharing, stimulation of ideas and energy, and visibility of plans such that any events at all levels can be shared across systems and region footprints and national initiatives have early oversight and opportunity for open check and challenge within the network, and also within the national team. In Summary

In summary, appetite for AHPsDay to continue to grow is strong.  It is apparent that AHPsDay creates impact for two key audiences – internally for the family of AHPs to celebrate all they achieve collectively, and externally to promote awareness and engagement with non-AHPs, building connections and strengthening opportunities.There was a growing recognition that support and engagement from communications teams and others outside of the AHP family could boost the visibility and impact of the day.

There appeared to be consensus from the group that taking stock of AHPsDay past, present, and future had been a useful activity and afforded a refresh of purpose and activity to maximise the potential benefits.

Below is the Chat Word Cloud