Best Practice Guide Neonatal Allied Health, Psychological Professionals and Pharmacists
We are delighted to share the attached guide which lays out best practice for allied health professionals, psychological professionals and pharmacists (AHPPPs) working in Neonatal Units in London. AHPPPs both improve family experience and to improve outcomes across the lifespan. AHPPPs also contribute significantly to service efficiencies such as reduced length of stay and improved health outcomes which persist long after discharge. This means that AHPPPs not only attend to the needs of families and the quality of their care, but also support the achievement of cost savings. AHPPPs also facilitate the connection of families and staff with community services to ensure timely discharge and high quality ongoing care. Additionally, we know that AHPPPs make services safer, and scaffold the wider multidisciplinary workforce through training and staff wellbeing interventions.
The best practice guide aims to support commissioners and providers to understand the role of each of the professions, and to support with job planning and bids to develop or enhance provision. Where you already have someone in post the guide can be used to support governance and collect data on activity, as well as highlighting where there are gaps. There are currently no service standards for AHPPPs working in neonatal units and no description of what best practice looks like. We anticipate and would encourage that this document is adopted regionally to progress the agenda of better supporting our patients and our staff, improving care quality and making services more productive, cost effective and safer.
If you have any questions about the guide please do contact the lead AHPPPs via the London network.
This document outlines best practice for the delivery of care by Allied Health Professionals, Psychological Professionals, and Pharmacists (AHPPPs) within neonatal units (NNUs) in London. This guide promotes equitable and high-quality holistic care for infants and families. It will be useful to develop and improve MDT provision.
Key Points:
• Understanding AHPPP provision
• Multidisciplinary Collaboration
• Early Intervention and Discharge Planning
• Professional Infrastructure
• Consideration of universal, targeted and specialist care
