Post by Deborah Udy Okusaga Akanne (@deborah_udy_okusaga)

THE PHYSIOTHERAPIST VERSION — PRIVATE SECTOR SPONSORSHIP IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK.

The post I wrote about physiotherapists ignoring private sector sponsorship generated more response than almost anything I have published this year.

So I want to go deeper — because what is true for physios is true for occupational therapists, radiographers, speech therapists, and every other registered AHP.

The NHS is not the only door. It is just the most obvious one.

High-skilled healthcare roles including nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals remain fully eligible for Health and Care Worker Visa sponsorship — in both NHS and CQC-registered private settings.

Large private healthcare networks hold active A-rated sponsor licenses. They recruit for registered AHP roles.

They often move faster than NHS Trusts, operate with less bureaucratic friction in the hiring process, and in several cases offer salaries that exceed NHS Agenda for Change equivalents for the same clinical role.

The AHPs I work with who secure sponsored roles fastest are not the ones who applied to the most NHS Trusts. They are the ones who mapped the full sponsorship landscape — NHS and private — and targeted the organizations with the most active recruitment pipelines in their specialty.

Your HCPC registration does not belong to the NHS. It belongs to you. And the market it opens is wider than most internationally registered AHPs realize.

Today I am covering the full AHP switch landscape — for physiotherapists, OTs, radiographers, speech therapists, and every other registered AHP in the UK looking for their next move.

💬 Are you a registered AHP currently in the UK?

Comment AHP and I will send you the 2026 Private Sector Sponsorship Guide.

#HCPC #PhysiotherapyJobs #AlliedHealthProfessionals #OccupationalTherapy #PrivateHealthcare #nhssponsorship #InCountrySwitch #skilledworkervisa #UKHealthcare #SovereignHealthcare

0 likes · 0 comments · 0 shares