Designing a curriculum for the assistant practitioner of the future: Ensuring interprofessional care aspects and other stakeholder requirements are met

• The article considers the development of a foundation degree to support Assistant Practitioners in diagnostic imaging.
• It considers the external drivers currently influencing the development of this sector of the workforce.
• It also discusses the challenges of curriculum design of non-commissioned, unregulated programmes.

The role of the Assistant Practitioner in radiography has been established for over 10 years. Wakefield, Spilsbury, Atkin and McKenna13 (2009) describe how the role was originally introduced to overcome a shortage of registered staff at that time. Whilst there are clear overarching descriptions of what the role of the Assistant Practitioner is, Wakefield et al. concluded that there are many interpretations of the role and that there are inconsistencies between employers and subsequent uncertainty in workforce planners. Stewart-Lord, McLaren and Ballinger18 (2011) also found that there were a variety of roles and responsibilities undertaken by Assistant Practitioners in the field of radiography.This article outlines the curriculum design process for a foundation degree to develop Assistant Practitioners in diagnostic imaging and the associated challenges faced.