A nationally agreed definition and job title format for AHP advanced practice roles in Scotland have been established to support consistency and workforce planning. These can be seen in the 'Transforming Roles Paper 09: Allied Health Professions Advance Practice' document.
They set a clear national direction for AHP advanced practice in Scotland with expectations for governance, education, supervision and evidencing impact across the four pillars of practice outlined. It can be accessed through TURAS and this information is open to non NHS Music Therapists.
Background and context
A recent scoping report (NES, 2024) explored what support is available for AHP advanced practice roles in Scotland. It found encouraging progress, with NHS Boards supporting the development and implementation of these roles in several ways including:
• AHP advanced practice lead roles to provide strategic oversight of role development
• Local workforce policies and strategies to embed roles
• Use of metrics to demonstrate impact of advanced practice roles
• Creation of local advanced practice support networks
However, the report also identified several challenges. These included the absence of a national definition of AHP advanced practice, wide variation in job titles and limitations in workforce data. The report also noted a lack of a systematic approach to developing advanced practice roles through education frameworks and career pathways and to evaluating their impact. In addition, many practitioners and Service Leads were not aware of national resources such as the NES Multiprofessional Advanced Practice Toolkit (NES, 2025a) and the Advanced Practice Academies (NES, 2025b).
In response, the Scottish Government commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES), in partnership with the Scottish Directors of AHPs, to support the development of AHP advanced practice across Scotland’s 14 AHP professions.
Key objectives included:
- Collaborating with stakeholders to establish a consistent national definition and nomenclature for AHP Advanced Practice
- Developing an AHP-specific Transforming Roles paper to provide clear direction for advancing practice
- Establishing robust oversight processes for developing knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSB) frameworks in priority areas of AHP practice.
The success of the Commission depended upon robust evidence and strong collaboration and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders including employers, professional bodies, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), education providers and the wider AHP Community. This engagement helped ensure that the work was evidence-informed, credible and relevant across professions and practice settings.
Director of Public Affairs at BAMT, Karen Diamond said:
"It is positive to see that a nationally agreed definition for AHP's has been developed in Scotland. It is not limited to those professions which have undertaken specific advanced practice qualifications; but reflects the advanced practice which others undertake as they specialise in specific clinical areas. BAMT are delighted to see the inclusion of Music Therapy in this document."
Key Areas of Progress
A national definition of AHP advanced practice, aligned with the UK-wide statement by the four Chief AHP Officers, has been established. To ensure a consistent and shared understanding across Scotland, it is recommended that:
• The national definition should be formally embedded into workforce planning.
• All AHP advanced practice roles should be mapped against it to demonstrate how they meet the expectations outlined by the CAHPOs.
• The recommended national job title format is: Advanced Practice Music Therapist with the option to include the clinical specialty.
• This format clearly identifies the level of practice, uses the protected professional title from the HCPC register and has been endorsed by the Scottish Directors of AHPs. To ensure consistency across Scotland, it is recommended that: The national job title format should be adopted for all new roles.
• All roles currently titled ‘advanced’ should be reviewed however the decision whether to align existing titles is the responsibility of individual employers.
Next Steps
The next phase of the Commission will focus on supporting implementation of the guidance and gathering feedback on the use of Transforming Roles Paper 09. Additionally, NES will be supporting the use of AHP advanced practice trainee roles through development of advanced practice pathways using KSB and educational frameworks in two areas of AHP practice.
Access the paper
Read the latest Clinical Career Framework for Music Therapists, launched in 2025