A dedicated piece of wall art in celebration of the Allied Health Professionals (AHP) workforce has been installed in two Black Country hospitals.

The colourful masterpiece, which was installed on Thursday 13 October, sits towards the rear entrance of Walsall Manor Hospital and alongside the main hospital corridor at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital.

AHP Day (14 October) is an annual opportunity for colleagues to come together and celebrate being part of the AHP family, and the day gives an opportunity to showcase the impact they make to the delivery of high-quality care.

Matthew Craven, Associate Director of AHPs at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “My AHP colleagues make me proud every day due to the sheer dedication they put into delivering services for patients. This feature just shows a snippet of how fabulous they are – it’s so exciting!”

Rosalind Leslie, Chief AHP at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT), is proud to see this artwork finally come to life and “showcase her fantastic colleagues”.

She said: “We are delighted to be able to install these pieces across both RWT and Walsall which will help to further establish the identity of our AHP community in our respective organisations.

“The posters are part of our AHP Day promotions and celebrations; however, they are permanent installations to serve as a consistent reminder of the integral contribution our AHPs make to patient care every single day.”

AHPs are also overwhelmed to have a permanent feature dedicated to their role. Occupational Therapist, Phil Whitehouse, was honoured to represent his service by being featured.

He said: “It feels a privilege to be involved in the poster as I work for a niche area of occupational therapy, so it was a great opportunity for me to be the face of it for Walsall.

“I’m proud to represent wheelchair services, my professional group and AHPs on the whole for the organisation”.

Meanwhile at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Catherine McKeown, Assistant Head of Orthoptics, is seen on the wall art and has “really welcomed the opportunity to be part of the poster and is a great opportunity to represent orthoptic colleagues at the Trust”.

In England, 170,000 AHPs work across 14 professional groups providing clinical care and contributing to population health. They take up a third of the NHS workforce and accumulate more than four million patient contacts per week.

AHP careers include:

• Dietitians
• Occupational Therapists
• Operating Department Practitioners
• Orthoptists, Prosthetists and Orthotists
• Paramedics
• Physiotherapists
• Podiatrists
• Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiographers
• Speech and Language Therapists

To find more about becoming an AHP, visit www.england.nhs.uk/ahp/about/.