The WOW Show Q&A

So, as we've seen, there are a lot of different careers, no matter what your ambition or your aspirations. I'm sure you've got a lot of questions now too. We're linked up at Richmond Park Academy in South West London. Hi there, give us a wave guys! And also Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough. Hey everyone! But anyone can ask a question, just drop us an email or give us a tweet. In the studio we've got our panel of experts. We've got the lovely Marie Claire, we've got Michelle and we've got James. So, first up, we're heading to Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough. Are there any available jobs in the sector? Okay, Marie Claire, do you want to take that one? Sorry, I missed the first part of it. Are there many available jobs in the sectors for AHPs at the moment? There's a world of opportunity out there with occupational therapy through to podiatry through to drama therapy. You've just got to go and knock on the doors and find out. Awesome, I hope that answers your question. We're going to head over now. We're going to go to Richmond Park Academy in London. I'm a bit squeamish about hospitals and injuries. Does that matter? All right, good question. Michelle, what do you think? No, it doesn't. And there's such a range of different roles within the AHP profession that you may be working out in the community, you may be working in a GP surgery where you don't see anything squeamish at all. There is the flip side of that where, yes, you might be working as perhaps a diagnostic radiographer in accident emergency and you do see some things that are a little bit gory, but then you get to train and learn on the job and get used to that if it's a problem for you. But again, as I said, if you are squeamish, there's lots of work out there within AHPs where you don't ever come into contact with anything that would perhaps be a little bit uncomfortable. All right, great answers. Thank you very much. Now we're going to come over for our next question. How can you get in the healthcare profession? With good skills, but not the right qualifications. Okay, great, great question. I think James, you've probably got to answer that for us. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, great question. I think there's a whole range of different options that are available to you. You can start by looking at access courses that would get you into a university degree programme. You can look at apprenticeship models and that works all the way through from a support worker level role at the very early stage of developing your career all the way through to a graduate role at sort of a graduation point for degree level training and then all the way through there as well through to master's level and doctoral level training as well. So there's lots of different entry points along that system that you could use. Awesome. Marika, anything you'd like to add on that one? Yes, absolutely. I started my life just as a voluntary physiotherapy assistant in the local hospital. I went and knocked on some doors. From that job, I then got offered a permanent post as what was then an assistant which is now an associate. And these support worker roles are so important and they're throughout all of the AHP or allied health professions. And then from that, I decided after two years that although I had no formal qualifications and I had no A-levels, I thought this is really the career for me. I'm absolutely passionate about it. So I took myself off and I went and did an access course which was hard but I got into university and I graduated and 10 years later, I went on and did a master's. And now I find myself clinically working as well as working in a fellowship with Health Education England. There are such vast opportunities out there for allied health professionals to not just be a clinician but also for the support workers. They are equally as important to each of those allied health professions and they play a vital role. And then they have lots of different names. So rehab assistants, support workers, technical rehab assistants. There's lots of different things out there. So don't let anyone stop you. Fantastic. Thank you for sharing that story, Mary-Claire. And I hope that answers your question. Let's take another question now. How much can I earn as an AHP? Okay, that's a great question. I want to know the answer to this. James, Michelle? Yeah, sure. I think it's worth looking at the breadth of opportunities that exist there. So if you go into an NHS role, the likelihood is you'll probably start on a, if you go in a graduate level, a band five salary. That'll be something in the region of £19,000 to £20,000 per year. And then you'll work up through the grading system as your experience and your qualifications develop. If you work in the private sector, it's really based on how much you're willing to work. I mean, if you look in podiatry as an example, private podiatrists are earning between £50,000 to £60,000 per year. Some even more than that. And those that own their own private clinics can earn in the hundreds of thousands. So it really depends what your motivation is and what sector you want to work in. I suppose the really key message though, is as we move forward as a sector, it's really important that we get people working in all parts of the sector. So it's probably worth thinking about a portfolio career in that sense, that you take on some NHS work and you do some work that really helps develop your clinical practice and develop in that area. But then you also do some private work as well and mix that up with, as the guys have said, research, educational work, work in the commercials industry. You know, there's so much opportunity there that you can really go in lots of different directions. Awesome. So there's a really wide variety of ways we can get involved. So I hope that answers your question. I think now we're going to head to Richmond Park and get another question from you guys. Oh, Unity City. Hey guys. What voluntary work would be good if I was interested in health and social care? Okay, great question again. Michelle, do you want to get that one? Yeah, sure. So I would recommend that you reach out somewhere that's local to you where they're caring for patients. So you could look at nursing homes, you could attend open events that you see at your local hospital clinics, community areas, perhaps reach out to charities, anything where you're connecting with people, learning how to talk to people, build confidence and skills and wanting to care for people. So as well as reaching out to local hospitals, because there are voluntary opportunities there in cafes or with charitable organisations within those hospitals. So if anyone tells you you can't get voluntary work, then don't take no for an answer and just get out there and knock on doors. Great. That's a really, really good answer. I think as long as you've got that motivation and determination, you'll find the right place. All right. Let's take another question now from Richmond Park. Is it possible to get work experience as an allied health professional? Sure. How about Marie Claire? What do you think? Yes. And again, it's really important that you talk to clinicians, you go and meet the local departments. And don't forget, it's not just in the hospitals. You can do these in care homes, you can do these in nursing homes, you can do these in specialist school settings. Everywhere you look around, your environment is somewhere where someone cares for someone. So my key piece of advice would be don't let anyone stop you. Great. Fantastic. We're going to take a question that's come in on the email now from Sue in Manchester. And I think, Michelle, this is going to be a good one for you. Sue asks, what qualities do you need for a career as an AHP? Well, I think first and foremost, it's really important to want to work with people, whether that's the patients and the families you're looking after or your team colleagues, because we work with all other, as a therapeutic radiographer, I work with other allied health professionals and doctors, nurses, support workers, porters, etc., in the hospital environment or clinics. Other qualities, it's about being conscientious. So even if you're unsure in the early days of your school studies or when you go on to train, it's about really just being committed to your work. And I have no doubt that if you're interested in healthcare, you'll do that. It's being resilient as well. And you've got to balance the about 50-50 split of working out training in a hospital and also being in the university environment. But the important thing to remember is it's huge fun out there. There's lots of things to learn and it's hugely rewarding. So I don't think you'd have any doubts about how motivated you want to be once you get onto the training courses. So yeah, that's kind of a summary of the skills. And also remember, there's lots of transferable skills. I never expected to get involved in business studies or service management, but it's a way where my career took me. I worked in an academic setting within a university, teaching young people and mature students. So look out for the resources as well. There's the Healthcare Careers website and also the I See the Difference website. All our professional bodies who lead what we do in our areas of practice have lots of information. So reach out to those two and do your research to find out what you want to do. Brilliant. Thanks for that information, Michelle. We're going to take another question now from Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough. One of the hardest things you've ever done in your career? Oh, good question. James, what do you reckon? Hardest thing? I suppose it's the peaks and troughs of clinical activity. I think sometimes you get involved in very intense periods of clinical activity and you could be in a high risk lower limb clinic where you're seeing several patients one after the other and they all have complex needs and a range of different medical conditions. And you can contrast that with working in a sporting environment. If you look at podiatrists and physiotherapists and others that work as part of medical teams for London Marathon, for instance, the great influx of runners and different points in the run, that can be really challenging to try and deal with all these different people all at the same time. But we all, I think, have reflected back on the rewarding nature of all of this activity that we engage in. It's such a wonderful place to be, to be part of this AHP world. And for anybody that's thinking about it, the difficulty that you face is completely offset and overwhelmed by the benefit that you get back out of it. So it's really worth thinking about. Marie-Claire, I think you've got something to add in there, have you? Yeah, I think there's also something around, for me, one of the hardest things was the boundaries that sometimes the system provides us. And actually working with my allied health professional colleagues and working in multidisciplinary teams and trying to break down those boundaries to make sure that patients are at the centre of our care is probably one of my hardest things. And also the amount of paperwork, particularly in the NHS. Awesome, thank you for that answer. And thank you very much for that question. But I'm sorry, we're going to have to end it there. Thank you to everyone who has asked a question so far. The panel will be online for the next hour or so. So keep those questions coming and we'll do our best to answer them all. And teachers in the back, remember, we've got lesson plans and resource packs and progression packs, which you can find on our website, thewowshow.org. But for now, thank you very much, everyone. For everyone who took part, goodbye.