Kim Williams and Jackie Orwin – Eastern Health
What happens when you give a team of social workers a handful of Allied Health Assistants (AHAs) and a tool to track how their time is spent?
You get a case study in workforce transformation that delivers better outcomes for patients, reduces system pressure, and proves—yet again—that low-cost roles, when used well, can deliver high-value care.
🛠 The Tool: WOMBAT
At the heart of this transformation was WOMBAT (Work Observation Method by Activity Timing)—a structured tool traditionally used in nursing. When applied to social work, it uncovered a powerful truth: 43% of social workers’ time was being spent on low-value tasks—activities that didn’t require their clinical training or expertise.
Think paperwork. Phone tag. Chasing referrals. Taking minutes. Tasks that could easily be done by a trained AHA or automated system.
💡 The Change: Introduce AHAs
Instead of continuing to overload qualified clinicians, Eastern Health made a bold move: they introduced just 3.6 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) AHAs across six hospitals.
These weren’t clinical replacements. They were strategic supports—handling the low-value work so social workers could focus on what only they can do: assessment, intervention, and complex clinical reasoning.
📈 The Impact: Time, Culture, and Cost
- Patient outcomes improved: Length of stay for elderly patients transitioning to residential care dropped from an average of 19 days to 15 days.
- Cultural resistance flipped: Social work teams went from fearing “role substitution” to actively demanding more AHAs. The workforce wasn’t diluted—it was amplified.
- Cost-benefit was undeniable:
- Annual cost of 3.6 FTE AHAs: ~$340,000
- System-level savings: >$4 million per year in bed days alone
“We freed up so much AHP time to do the high-value stuff… Now teams say: We can’t do without them.”
📊 Amplification, Not Substitution
This isn’t about replacing clinicians—it’s about redesigning care so that everyone works at the top of their scope:
🧩 Replace a small amount of low-value work →
💥 Free up capacity for high-value work →
📉 Improve patient flow →
💰 Deliver massive system savings
And perhaps most critically: this was achieved without a major restructure. With a clear map (WOMBAT), strong leadership, and trust in data, the team created space to reimagine how work could be done—without burning anyone out or blowing the budget.
🚀 So, What Can You Do With This?
If you’re struggling with workforce shortages, burnt-out clinicians, or impossible KPIs—stop and take a look at where the time is going. Chances are, your highly trained staff are drowning in tasks someone else could (and should) be doing.
This isn’t just a story about social work—it’s a blueprint for value-based workforce design across the system
👣 Next Steps
Join our upcoming Global Advanced Practice Webinar on 17 April to learn more about how the introduction of allied health assistants using the WOMBAT tool can reshape your workforce, reduce burnout, and amplify value — without waiting for a restructure or trial.
Sometimes, a small shift in thinking is all it takes to create a big shift in impact.
#Workforce Transformation #Allied Health Assistants #Amplification Principle #Value-Based Care #Real-World Evidence
