About the strategy
We are working with state and territory governments to develop a National Allied Health Workforce Strategy. This responds to a recommendation from the independent review of Australia’s regulatory settings relating to overseas health practitioners final report.
Goals
The strategy will:
- help to address national allied health workforce issues, including the shortage of allied health professionals in Australia
- consider how these issues vary across the allied health sector so we can better align the supply of allied health professionals with current and future needs.
We are placing a strong focus on:
- understanding the overarching factors and reforms that influence allied health workforce supply, demand, safety and quality
- reviewing the relevant policies, strategies and models of care currently in place that impact the allied health workforce
- recognising gaps in allied health data collection.
Strategy development
We are developing the strategy in 2 phases:
- Phase 1 will involve collecting evidence, consulting with stakeholders, and drafting the strategy from late 2023 to early 2025
- Phase 2 will seek endorsement of the finalised strategy through the Health Workforce Taskforce, Health Chief Executives Forum, and Health Ministers’ Meeting.
We expect to complete the strategy in 2025.
Status
We are currently considering responses from the third round of public consultation, held between 20 January and 3 March 2025, which sought feedback on the draft strategy. The draft strategy was developed following collection of evidence and stakeholder consultation, including:
- the first round of public consultation, held between 28 May and 9 July 2024, which sought feedback on the proposed outline and content of the strategy
- a series of targeted online forums for allied health professionals and consumers of allied health, held across August and September 2024.
The draft strategy has been reviewed by the strategy governance groups and Health Workforce Taskforce before the third round of public consultation, which has now closed.
Consultation
Stakeholder consultation is an important part of developing the National Allied Health Workforce Strategy. Public and targeted stakeholder consultations have taken place throughout the evidence collection and drafting phase.
The third round of public consultation has now closed. This was open from 20 January to 3 March 2025 via the Consultation Hub.
Thank you to the many individuals and organisations that have contributed to the development of the draft Strategy through our consultation opportunities. Your input has helped us:
- confirm and build on earlier findings
- test proposed priorities and recommendations
- refine the structure and content of the strategy.
Learn more
To keep up to date with our work on the strategy and other allied health-related work, subscribe to our allied health sector updates.
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