Consultation Draft: Outline of the National Allied Health Workforce Strategy

Overview

Australians need better access to allied health care to prevent and manage chronic conditions, and support people with disability, older people, people with mental health issues and children and families.  

The Australian Government is working with state and territory governments to develop a National Allied Health Workforce Strategy, as recommended in the Independent review of Australia’s regulatory settings relating to overseas health practitioners Final Report.

A steering group has been formed to guide development of the Strategy. The group comprises Chief Allied Health Officers from each state and territory, as well as senior executive from a number of Australian government agencies including the Department of Health and Aged Care, Department of Education, National Disability Insurance Agency and Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

As a first step, the steering group has developed a draft outline for the Strategy. This can be seen in the Related Attachments below.

The Strategy, once developed, will outline what steps are needed to ensure there are enough highly trained allied health professionals distributed across the country. It will describe how the Australian Government, state and territory governments, universities and professional associations can work together to improve planning for the allied health workforce.

Why your views matter

We appreciate your participation in this consultation on the draft outline of the National Allied Health Workforce Strategy.

The experience and knowledge of all stakeholders and interested members of the community are valued and will contribute to the final Strategy.

A further round of consultation will occur later in 2024, to seek feedback on the draft Strategy once it has been developed.

What happens next

Thank you for your participation. Your input to the development of the Strategy is greatly appreciated. We will be reviewing submissions, collating your responses and using it to inform the drafting of the Strategy. We will be providing another consultation opportunity to demonstrate what we've heard from you. If you’d like to receive updates on the progress of the Strategy, please subscribe to allied health sector updates via the department’s website.