Allied Health Insights Vol.2 No33: Year’s Done, Turkey In The Oven, Time For A Break! Happy Holidays Ye AHPs Across The Globe
In this edition of Allied Health Insights
It’s that time again! We would like to thank you all for taking the journey with us through 2023—what a year it’s been.
For AHPs in Australia, strengthening the role of allied health in multidisciplinary primary care was a hot topic this year, with a significant ($79.4 million over 4 years) allocation in the Commonwealth budget to fund PHNs to commission multidisciplinary care from AHPs, nurses and midwives. Ongoing discourse about scopes of practice was also reignited, with the Scope of Practice review, expansions to non-medical prescribing particularly for pharmacists (e.g. in NSW and Tasmania, also see our earlier article on the topic) and the recent media furore about podiatric surgery, the last of which was seemingly well-timed to coincide with the Podiatry Board of Australia’s announcement of an independent review into regulation of podiatric surgeons. We look forward to the findings of the Scope of Practice Review in 2024, and will be reporting its implications for allied health in Australia.
It’s been a big year for AHP Workforce and its parent company, HealthWork International.
Some of the highlights:
- AHP Workforce was engaged in numerous consultancies throughout 2023, spanning service reviews, workforce plans, health practitioner regulation and research capacity building toolkits for a range of clients, including Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, The Office of the Chief Allied Health Officer (Queensland), Tasmanian Health Service, and Malaysian Ministry of Health (funded by the World Health Organization).
- HealthWork Solutions supported the Allied Health Assistants’ National Association Ltd to firmly establish itself as the peak body for allied health assistants (AHAs) in Australia, by implementing a best-practice certification framework in what is believed to be a world first for this vital workforce.
- HealthWork International launched The Allied Health Academy, an online Academy of communities of practice with a focus on building multidisciplinary health workforce capacity, which has grown to more than 1,100 members from 15+ countries in six months.
- And last week, AHP Workforce released HealthWork Mapping, a suite of analytical tools for healthcare organisations combining geospatial modelling, mapping of workforce supply, and comprehensive health workforce surveys.
Leading into 2024, it’s important to reflect on the value of allied health and our capacity as innovators and agents of change. And on that note:
In this festive edition of Allied Health Insights:
Susan Nancarrow outlines how we as allied health professionals can shift our mindset from permission-seeking to one of innovators and owning our space.
