Allied Health Professions

Head to head

Speech and language therapy or physiotherapy? Compare two professions properly

28 side-by-side comparisons across the 8 professions with the most approved courses. Each one puts the same measures next to each other — what the job is, how you get in, how many courses there are, how long they take, what band you start on and what funding you can claim.

28 Comparisons Every pair of the largest professions
8 Professions compared Ranked by approved course count
613 Courses behind them Approved pre-registration programmes
£32,073 Band 5 starting salary England, 2026/27 — the band most of these start on

Why these comparisons are hard to find

The allied health professions are usually described one at a time, by the body that represents each of them, in language designed to make that profession sound like the one you want. That is fair enough — but it leaves the actual decision undone. If you are weighing occupational therapy against physiotherapy, or speech and language therapy against dietetics, what you need is not two enthusiastic descriptions; it is the same set of measures applied to both.

So each comparison below answers the same questions in the same order. What is the work really, day to day? Which routes exist into it, and does a salaried apprenticeship exist or not? How many approved courses are there, and how long do they take? Which band do you start on, and what does that pay in your nation? What funding is either profession eligible for? And — the part nobody writes down — where do the two genuinely overlap, and where does the resemblance stop?

The overlaps are real and worth taking seriously. Several of these professions work in the same wards, on the same caseloads, in the same teams, and a lot of applicants arrive thinking they want one when they want the other. The comparisons name the shared settings rather than glossing over them, then say plainly what the difference in the working day is.

Every comparison

Listed alphabetically. Each pair exists in one direction only — the reverse address resolves to the same page.

Diagnostic radiographer vs dietitian

Diagnostic radiographer and dietitian on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

67 vs 57 coursesBoth start at band 5

Diagnostic radiographer vs occupational therapist

Diagnostic radiographer and occupational therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

67 vs 129 coursesBoth start at band 5

Diagnostic radiographer vs operating department practitioner

Diagnostic radiographer and operating department practitioner on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

67 vs 59 coursesBoth start at band 5

Diagnostic radiographer vs paramedic

Diagnostic radiographer and paramedic on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

67 vs 80 coursesBoth start at band 5

Diagnostic radiographer vs physiotherapist

Diagnostic radiographer and physiotherapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

67 vs 139 coursesBoth start at band 5

Diagnostic radiographer vs podiatrist

Diagnostic radiographer and podiatrist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

67 vs 31 coursesBoth start at band 5

Diagnostic radiographer vs speech and language therapist

Diagnostic radiographer and speech and language therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

67 vs 51 coursesBoth start at band 5

Dietitian vs occupational therapist

Dietitian and occupational therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

57 vs 129 coursesBoth start at band 5

Dietitian vs operating department practitioner

Dietitian and operating department practitioner on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

57 vs 59 coursesBoth start at band 5

Dietitian vs paramedic

Dietitian and paramedic on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

57 vs 80 coursesBoth start at band 5

Dietitian vs physiotherapist

Dietitian and physiotherapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

57 vs 139 coursesBoth start at band 5

Dietitian vs podiatrist

Dietitian and podiatrist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

57 vs 31 coursesBoth start at band 5

Dietitian vs speech and language therapist

Dietitian and speech and language therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

57 vs 51 coursesBoth start at band 5

Occupational therapist vs operating department practitioner

Occupational therapist and operating department practitioner on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

129 vs 59 coursesBoth start at band 5

Occupational therapist vs paramedic

Occupational therapist and paramedic on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

129 vs 80 coursesBoth start at band 5

Occupational therapist vs physiotherapist

Occupational therapist and physiotherapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

129 vs 139 coursesBoth start at band 5

Occupational therapist vs podiatrist

Occupational therapist and podiatrist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

129 vs 31 coursesBoth start at band 5

Occupational therapist vs speech and language therapist

Occupational therapist and speech and language therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

129 vs 51 coursesBoth start at band 5

Operating department practitioner vs paramedic

Operating department practitioner and paramedic on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

59 vs 80 coursesBoth start at band 5

Operating department practitioner vs physiotherapist

Operating department practitioner and physiotherapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

59 vs 139 coursesBoth start at band 5

Operating department practitioner vs podiatrist

Operating department practitioner and podiatrist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

59 vs 31 coursesBoth start at band 5

Operating department practitioner vs speech and language therapist

Operating department practitioner and speech and language therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

59 vs 51 coursesBoth start at band 5

Paramedic vs physiotherapist

Paramedic and physiotherapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

80 vs 139 coursesBoth start at band 5

Paramedic vs podiatrist

Paramedic and podiatrist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

80 vs 31 coursesBoth start at band 5

Paramedic vs speech and language therapist

Paramedic and speech and language therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

80 vs 51 coursesBoth start at band 5

Physiotherapist vs podiatrist

Physiotherapist and podiatrist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

139 vs 31 coursesBoth start at band 5

Physiotherapist vs speech and language therapist

Physiotherapist and speech and language therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

139 vs 51 coursesBoth start at band 5

Podiatrist vs speech and language therapist

Podiatrist and speech and language therapist on the same measures — entry routes, approved courses, course length, starting band and funding — plus where their working days actually overlap.

31 vs 51 coursesBoth start at band 5

The professions being compared

Ranked by how many approved pre-registration courses lead to each. Where a figure is not published in the source data, the cell says so rather than guessing.

Approved courses, providers and entry routes by profession
Profession Approved courses Universities Entry routes Course length Starting band
Diagnostic radiographer 67 37 BSc, MSc pre-reg, Apprenticeship and MSci 2–4 years Band 5
Dietitian 57 31 BSc, MSc pre-reg, Apprenticeship and MSci 2–4 years Band 5
Occupational therapist 129 56 BSc, MSc pre-reg, Apprenticeship and MSci 2–4 years Band 5
Operating department practitioner 59 30 BSc, Apprenticeship and MSc pre-reg 2–3 years Band 5
Paramedic 80 51 BSc, Apprenticeship, MSc pre-reg and MSci 2–4 years Band 5
Physiotherapist 139 68 BSc, MSc pre-reg, Apprenticeship and MSci 2–4 years Band 5
Podiatrist 31 17 BSc, MSc pre-reg, Apprenticeship and MSci 2–4 years Band 5
Speech and language therapist 51 29 BSc, MSc pre-reg, Apprenticeship and MSci 2–4 years Band 5

Course length is the range published across the approved courses in the dataset, so it covers undergraduate and pre-registration master’s programmes together. The individual comparisons split them.

Start from one profession

If you already know one half of the question, these are the comparisons that include it.

Diagnostic radiographer

Dietitian

Occupational therapist

Operating department practitioner

Paramedic

Physiotherapist

Podiatrist

Speech and language therapist

A comparison is not a ranking

Nothing here says one profession is better than another, and the ordering on this page is by course count, not by merit. A profession with 31 approved courses is not a worse career than one with 139 — it is a smaller profession with fewer places, which usually means a more competitive application and a narrower choice of city, and those are practical facts rather than judgements.

Nor is a comparison a substitute for seeing the work. Every one of these professions will let you arrange a visit or speak to someone in post, and an afternoon in a department will tell you more about whether you can do the job than any table will. Use these pages to rule options in and out, then go and look at the two you are left with.

Carry on from here

Where this page’s data comes from

Course counts come from the regulators’ approved-programme lists; starting bands and salaries from the Agenda for Change pay scales; funding eligibility from each scheme’s published rules.