Allied Health Insights Vol.3 No.14: Scope of Practice Review Issues Paper 2 – Findings, Proposed Reforms, Peak Body Responses
With the release of Issues Paper 2, the Scope of Practice Review shifts to a solutions focus.
The second phase of the Scope of Practice Review now completed, The Department of Health and Aged Care has published Issues Paper 2: an overview of submissions from the first two rounds of consultations, paired with a set of primary care reform options that extend across the axes of workforce planning, regulation, and funding.
Issues Paper 2 is solutions-focused with a call-out for further submissions, and it reads well for allied health professionals who care about working to top of scope in multidisciplinary primary care environments; the most vocal reactions to it have so far come from medical professional bodies RACGP and the AMA.
The second consultation and online submission process was held between January 23 and March 8, 2024, and received more than 240 online submissions, in addition to a series of face-to-face and virtual consultations which were attended by over 500 participants. The paper’s mention of: direct referrals between professions; mooting UK and Canadian funding models for allied health services; and pivoting to a risk-based regulatory approach, all appear to have raised the alarm with a number of medical professional bodies.
In this edition of Allied Health Insights
- We take a look at Issues Paper 2: the Scope of Practice Review’s key findings to date; proposed reform options; and a roundup of reactions from various peak bodies. For a better understanding of the background, have a look at our previous commentary on the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce and the Scope of Practice Review here.
- As part of our ongoing coverage of professional scopes of practice, we present a wide range of articles related to allied health scope of practice in this week’s edition, including a replay of our recent webinar, ‘Podiatric Surgery: The latest battlefield for health professionals seeking to work to scope’, as well as a discussion between Dr Anne-Louise Carlton and Dr Susan Nancarrow about the implications of scope of practice changes for allied health and nursing, the regulatory perspective, and the opportunities for the professions.
