Support Workforce Programme – Expert Group

Support workers play a vital role in orthoptic services. Between 2021 and 2023, BIOS undertook a series of projects aligned to the, then, new national Allied Health Professions support workforce strategy produced by Health Education England (now NHS England Workforce, Training and Education) that explored the issue support staff faced in the profession. This led to the development of a series of resources, particularly a Roles and Responsibilities Guide and the creation of the dedicated Support Worker Hub on the BIOS website.

Building on the progress already made, over the next twelve months, BIOS will be undertaking a new work programme focused on the Orthoptic support workforce that will:

• Work with members to identify and produce any national or local resources required to assist implementation of the Roles and Responsibilities Guide.
• Work with services in one region to model implementation of the Roles and Responsibilities Guide and related guidance, in order to assess the difference implementation will make to support staff, their colleagues, services, and patients.
• Raise awareness of the resources amongst members and the benefits of implementation.
• Model how services can engage more with their local communities, including Further Education colleges, to recruit residents into support worker roles and pre-registration orthoptic degrees, including Degree Apprenticeships.

This work, as before, will be profession-led. An Expert Group is being established to guide, steer, and lead the project. It will meet virtually, for no more than six times over the course of a year for between one to two hours. In between meetings members views may be sought to comment on draft documents and complete short surveys.

Involvement in this work is an opportunity to help ensure that the contribution of support staff is maximised, that they have rewarding careers and are able to develop within their role and progress if they wish. We would love as many members of the Support workforce, registered staff and mangers to be involved as possible. Please share this with anyone you think it may be of interest to.

For further information contact: [email protected]