The SIHED (Strategic Interventions in Health Education Disciplines) programme is a £3m, three-year initiative to help build the sustainability of the allied health professions (AHPs). A big part of the programme, the I See the Difference campaign, has been developed to include lots of helpful information about AHPs on the website, currently alongside social media channels such as @icthedifference Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The digital campaign is also backed up by a large amount of outreach activities at schools and careers events across England.
More programme updates include:
- The Challenge Fund – In year one, six higher education projects were funded which focus on supporting the recruitment and retention of existing and new students of podiatry and therapeutic radiography. Find out more about the providers and projects here. As we begin year two, we have launched a second challenge fund with a wider remit and a budget of £400,000. Successful bid winners will be announced in the coming months.
- The British and Irish Orthoptic Society (BIOS) are working on a project to facilitate work shadowing opportunities in orthoptics.
- A funded fixed-term role to increase capacity for prosthetics and orthotics work placements, allowing more students to study the subject.
- Two research projects. The first report looked into the barriers to mature student engagementin healthcare, and how to address them. See report here
- We are currently working with another research company who are completing a study of male participation in nursing and allied health (NMAH). The report will seek to understand current differences in male participation to different NMAH disciplines to help understand and overcome barriers.
Some of our achievements in Year One of the campaign and programme include:
- More than 11,000 people visited the campaign website, 90% were new users. This equated to 19,637 page views
- A direct email campaign to 2500 secondary schools was undertaken, with 772 emails opened, equated to an open rate of 30.9%
- Attending more than 100 events including presentations to schools and smaller career fairs. Reaching 1700 students, families, teachers and careers advisors at large scale events and receiving 236 requests for school outreach at these events.
Also, visit the I See The Difference website for more information about the campaign.
Get in touch with the team, info@iseethedifference.co.uk, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
