Allied health assistance workforce report

This report provides an overview of the allied health assistance workforce in Victoria in 2015-2016. It is based on survey responses from 334 individual allied health assistants (AHA) (approximately 33 per cent of the workforce); three focus groups involving nine participants, a supplemental qualitative survey of 66 practitioners; and surveys from 71 organisations providing services across 272 different locations or sites. The age and gender of survey respondents are comparable to recent statistics collected by the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) (2015) relating to public health sector employed AHAs.

The AHA workforce is a unique, skilled and educated group with broad life experience. This workforce comprised a diverse skill-set, with 80 per cent entering the profession from previous roles and/or professions; 25 per cent hold a bachelor degree and the majority had a Certificate IV as their main qualification for their AHA role. AHAs worked across diverse roles and settings, with the vast majority working for a single employer in the public sector. Most AHAs worked in a community setting with adults, particularly older adults, providing rehabilitation services. They worked with a wide range of allied health (AH) disciplines, in particular physiotherapy where over 60 per cent of surveyed physiotherapists reported working with AHAs. The AHA workforce is unregulated and does not have a formal organising professional body.

There was little evidence of workforce shortages for AHAs, with few unfilled positions and large numbers of applicants for vacant positions. However, AHAs felt that their skills could be used more appropriately in organisations where they worked. Similarly, the use of AHAs allow organisations to provide services that may otherwise not be provided (such as therapy groups), and was proposed to have increased service efficiency through reducing waiting lists and promoting early discharge. A shortage of AHAs was believed to reduce the efficiency of other allied health professionals (AHPs) because certain roles and tasks could be delegated to AHAs therefore improving productivity. There were no systemic skills gaps identified for AHAs; however several organisations identified a mixture of clinical and generic skills that would be of local benefit.

AHAs have the capacity to work across numerous roles, disciplines and services where they are able to effectively fill service gaps. However, because of the lack of standardised competencies and training for AHAs, the quality and consistency of knowledge varies widely and the majority of training occurs on the job. This perceived inconsistency of skills and knowledge may limit the transferability of roles between settings and sectors. In addition, this lack of shared understanding and recognition of the potential and capabilities of AHAs may serve to further their underutilisation and create a situation where there is inappropriate use of AHAs by AHPs.

Key areas of consideration for the allied health assistant workforce going forward include: (1) A cost-benefit analysis of the added value of employing AHAs to help support business case development for their future employment; (2) Improving clinical governance and support for AHAs; (3) Identifying a set of core competencies and a standard training framework for AHAs; (4) Embedding supervision of and delegation to AHAs into AHPs' undergraduate training; (5) Exploring the development of explicit career pathways between AHAs and AHPs; and (6) Developing leadership within the allied health assistance workforce to provide this workforce with a single basis for negotiation and future direction.

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