"What's an ODP?" you ask, which is why everyone needs this petition.

Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs), currently undergo an excellent and very intensive 3 year degree (BSc Hons) training program, remaining in acute and elective front line healthcare services up to and after qualification.

ODPs are registered clinical professionals (like Midwifes, Nurses, Paramedics, Physiotherapists, Radiographers, etc.) who provide equally vital healthcare practices.

ODPs are an integral part of the Anaesthetic, Surgical, Recovery and many other hospital related service teams in the NHS and private practice all over the UK, and in a growing number of countries around the world.

ODPs provide regular emergency care, some as part of disaster response teams travelling wherever needed worldwide, or daily as part of the local crash call/medical emergency team, and attaining their further training potential, they are able to lead as advanced life support (ALS) providers, bringing the most effective evidence based practices to enhance the survival of service users and the public in need.

Unfortunately for years, ODPs have remained unrecognised and are often mistaken as nurses, doctors or other healthcare professionals. A secondary consequence to this has lead to ODPs being unable to provide essential services where required. One example of this being the recent urgent Covid vaccination program, simply because they were forgotten about (seriously), and so were not added to a legally required register to enable them to provide the duty. Even though around 15,000 are registered and practicing in the UK. Additionally, other healthcare professionals are unable to convert to the ODP profession with accelerated learning programs, or vice-versa, to fulfil short fall staffing where it is required, so many decide to leave healthcare altogether, adding to the escalating healthcare staffing issues almost everywhere.

This lack of recognition, unless addressed, can only go on to prevent more essential services from being delivered in the future, and so we need your help to enable this change.

So here it is, we are asking, please, Sajid Javid, help give ODPs the same overdue equal recognition and opportunity as their co-working Nursing and Allied health Professional team members, before the next emergency comes along that is a potential 15,000 team members short than it need be.

Thank you for signing, your support enables us to help you.