Australia faces severe shortages across many allied health disciplines, impacting healthcare delivery in crucial sectors like primary care, aged care, and disability services. Despite the urgency, there is no centralized system to collect workforce data or coordinate planning, making it challenging to address these shortages comprehensively.
Accurate statistics about allied health workforce capacity are limited, particularly for self-regulated professions. However, anecdotal evidence and vacancy rates suggest that shortages are widespread and worsening, particularly in under-served regions.
The Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report highlighted the critical role of allied health in person-centered care and improving primary healthcare. It recommended that Primary Health Networks (PHNs) increase commissioning of allied health services in under-served areas to complement general practice. Achieving this will require not only a larger workforce but also strategic redistribution to regions with the greatest need.
Federal policies like the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) have also driven up demand. Both sectors report persistent and severe workforce shortages, adding urgency to the need for practical solutions.
Drawing on historical strategies and recent research, this article outlines 12 practical solutions to help address these challenges.
1. Train More Allied Health Professionals
The simplest solution to shortages is to train more practitioners. Training pathways have expanded over the past decade, with increased availability of programs in disciplines like physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech pathology. For example, more than 50 physiotherapy programs and 60 occupational therapy programs are now accredited in Australia.
However, two major barriers limit growth:
- Shortage of Qualified Academic Staff: Recruiting qualified faculty to teach allied health programs is a challenge, as many experienced clinicians remain in practice due to higher salaries and career growth opportunities.
- Insufficient Clinical Placement Opportunities: Placements are critical for hands-on learning, yet limited placement sites and supervisors restrict capacity. Strategies like using simulation-based learning, expanding placement sites to non-traditional settings (e.g., schools, correctional facilities), and digital placements (e.g., telehealth training) could help expand capacity quickly.
Despite the increase in training programs, there is no guarantee that graduates will enter under-served areas or specializations. Comprehensive workforce planning is needed to align training with demand hotspots, such as rural regions and high-demand sectors like disability and mental health.
2. Introduce New Models of Training
Traditional university-based training models are slow to respond to rapid workforce needs. Innovative models, such as degree apprenticeships, currently used in the UK, have potential to accelerate workforce growth by integrating 80% clinical work with 20% academic study. These apprenticeships allow students to earn while they learn and enhance workplace readiness.
Australia could adopt models like:
- Incremental or ‘step-on-step-off’ programs, which allow students to enter the workforce with specific skills and credentials before completing full qualifications. For example, students might exit after two years with a Diploma in Allied Health Assistance or an Associate Degree of Allied Health and continue studying while working.
- Micro-credentialing can address high-volume needs for specific tasks. For example, short training programs could certify practitioners to perform aged care assessments, mental health screenings, or basic rehabilitation tasks. Programs like RMIT’s micro-credential in Digital Health offer a model for how to deliver these in-demand skills quickly.
Implementation of these models will require collaboration with industry to create suitable roles for partially qualified practitioners. Flexible training pathways could also help meet urgent needs in sectors like aged care and disability, where workers with limited but focused training can still make a meaningful impact.
3. Upskill Junior Practitioners / New Graduates Quickly
Even with expanded training programs, new graduates often face challenges transitioning to full professional roles. Employers report that many graduates are not “work-ready,” particularly those from accelerated or graduate-entry programs.
To enhance readiness, training providers should:
- Integrate more workplace-based learning during training to ensure students develop practical skills and confidence before graduation.
- Offer structured induction programs in high-demand sectors like aged care and disability, where mentorship and clinical supervision can help new graduates acclimate quickly.
- Implement tailored mentoring, supervision, and delegation frameworks that support new graduates while allowing them to perform safely within their scope of practice. For example, new graduates might focus on conducting initial assessments under supervision, while delegating routine follow-ups to allied health assistants (AHAs).
Programs like the Rural Generalist Training Program in Queensland Health provide a successful model for rapid upskilling in specific contexts, emphasizing the value of sustained support in early career stages.
4. Substitute Shortage Professions with Others
Workforce substitution involves one profession taking over tasks typically performed by another, to fill gaps. For example:
- Exercise physiologists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists often perform overlapping tasks in rehabilitation. In mental health, social workers and psychologists can offer similar interventions.
- In aged care, nurses may perform podiatry-related tasks, while speech pathologists and dietitians work interchangeably in dysphagia management.
However, substitution requires clear frameworks to ensure quality and safety, as well as agreed-upon competencies to prevent loss of professional roles. Once tasks are given away, they can be difficult to reclaim, necessitating thoughtful long-term planning.
5. Import More Overseas-Qualified Allied Health Professionals
Historically, Australia has relied on international recruitment to meet workforce needs, but this approach has faced new challenges due to COVID-19, cost of living, and ethical considerations.
Key challenges include:
- High living costs relative to salaries make Australia less attractive compared to countries like the USA or the UK. Addressing this requires more competitive salaries and incentives, especially in regional areas.
- Complex immigration processes and limited skilled occupation lists for certain allied health professions restrict the flow of overseas practitioners. Streamlined migration pathways, expedited credential recognition, and targeted incentives could help overcome these barriers.
While ethically challenging, targeted recruitment from countries with surplus healthcare workers could help, provided Australia offers reciprocal training, support, and career development opportunities.
6. Create New Roles
The allied health sector is well-positioned to innovate with new roles to fill market gaps. Recent examples include:
- Developmental educators, who focus on disability services, have emerged as a new allied health profession.
- Aged care assessors, trained in vocational settings, provide specialized assessments to streamline care planning and service access.
During workforce shortages, specialised roles like podiatric surgeons have been developed to meet specific needs (e.g., foot surgery), demonstrating how existing professions can expand into new areas.
7. Delegate Lower-Risk, Less-Skilled Tasks
Delegating routine tasks to allied health assistants (AHAs) can significantly increase capacity. AHAs can perform non-complex tasks like mobility exercises, basic assessments, and administrative support, allowing degree-qualified practitioners to focus on higher-level clinical work.
Funding models are the biggest barrier to employing AHAs more widely, as the current fee-for-service approach often does not cover tasks delegated to assistants. Adopting a well-structured and reimbursed delegation framework could improve efficiency, boost capacity, and provide career pathways for assistants.
8. Increase the Workforce Participation Rate of Qualified AHPs
With more than twice as many females as males in the allied health workforce, and many working part-time due to childcare or other responsibilities, strategies to boost participation rates are vital. Providing:
- Flexible work arrangements, including locum and remote work opportunities, could increase working hours, especially for parents.
- Subsidised or on-site childcare could also help practitioners return to work more quickly after having children.
Accurate data on participation rates, including hours worked and barriers to full participation, is necessary to guide planning and interventions.
9. Reduce Allied Health Workforce Attrition (Increase Retention)
Attrition remains a significant challenge across allied health, with insufficient data to measure it accurately. To reduce turnover, employers should:
- Implement better career progression pathways, which help retain staff by offering clear growth opportunities.
- Create supportive workplaces, focusing on professional development, workload management, and recognition of achievements.
- Collect and analyse data to understand attrition rates, causes, and solutions. For example, tracking exit interview themes could offer insights into why practitioners leave.
10. Attract Qualified Practitioners Back to the Professions
Practitioners who have left active roles represent a valuable resource. Strategies to attract them back include:
- Offering flexible re-entry programs and updated recency of practice rules to facilitate smooth transitions.
- Providing tailored roles that accommodate part-time hours, remote work, or non-clinical responsibilities.
- Leveraging professional associations to connect with inactive practitioners and offer incentives for returning.
During COVID-19, many countries successfully re-engaged retired or inactive practitioners, demonstrating that similar strategies could bolster the allied health workforce.
11. Change Allied Health Funding Models
Current funding models are episodic and largely fee-for-service, creating barriers to flexible, team-based care. Solutions include:
- Introducing team-based payment models that incentivise collaboration and support role expansion.
- Offering remuneration for administrative and care coordination tasks, which are currently underfunded.
- Adopting delegation frameworks that allow degree-qualified practitioners to bill for services delivered by AHAs, increasing capacity and creating new career paths.
12. Introduce New, More Efficient Models of Care
Many allied health services are delivered one-on-one, limiting scalability. New models could include:
- Group therapy programs, which are cost-effective and can reach more patients with similar needs simultaneously.
- Telehealth expansion, especially in rural and remote areas, allowing practitioners to provide support without geographic constraints.
- Hub-and-spoke models, where generalists manage cases locally and specialists provide remote consultation, could enhance care access and continuity.
Innovative models of care are crucial to maximising workforce capacity and ensuring equitable access to allied health services nationwide.
Conclusion
No single solution will suffice to address allied health workforce shortages. The reality is that a coordinated, multifaceted approach is essential, requiring collaboration between government, educational institutions, professional bodies, and service providers. Improved data collection, centralised workforce planning, and systemic changes in training, funding, and care delivery will be pivotal to building a sustainable, effective allied health workforce for Australia’s growing healthcare needs.
The Allied Health Academy hosts a number of communities of practice on its platform catering to the full spectrum of allied health disciplines and professions, including allied health assistants and advanced clinical practitioners. For more information about The Allied Health Academy platform, contact us today.
