What we're doing about allied health

We develop policies and run programs to strengthen the allied health sector in Australia. Our Chief Allied Health Officer leads our work in this field.

Our role in allied health

Allied health is a growing and dynamic field that plays an important role in the health and wellbeing of the community. The Australian Government is working to ensure that every Australian community has access to the allied health services they need.

The following areas will be important over the coming years.

Increasing access to services in rural and remote Australia

Australians living in rural and remote areas have less access to allied health services than those living in more built-up areas. This is due to both a shortage of allied health professionals in those areas, and poor distribution of the available workers.

We fund:

Biennial summit

The Australian and New Zealand Governments’ Chief Allied Health Officers co-convened the first Australia/New Zealand Summit on the value of allied health care. Held in August 2022, future summits will be held every 2 years.

The summit was held virtually, over 2 half days, and attracted over 950 health professionals, professional bodies, researchers, and policy makers. The 2022 theme was demonstrating the value and utility of allied health care. The summit included a series of presentations showcasing research papers and case studies as well as a facilitated panel discussion.

If you have any questions about the summit please contact us.

Watch the recordings

Read the presentations

Presentations are available on the New Zealand Ministry of Health’s Allied Health Summit web page, under the Downloads heading.

See a special illustration that was commissioned during the summit.

COVID-19

Although the majority of cases are considered mild, some COVID-19 patients might need long-term support with their rehabilitation.

Allied health professionals play a vital role in supporting their recovery. This can include physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, psychologists, social workers and pharmacists. We will continue to support individuals who need ongoing health care and support after COVID-19 infection.

Contact your health professional if you have ongoing symptoms after recovering from COVID-19.

We run webinars on COVID-19 issues to keep the allied health sector updated on this rapidly changing situation.

Health workforce programs

We are working on a range of health workforce programs to ensure Australia has a world-class health system, supported by a highly trained, qualified and well-distributed health workforce.

Programs related to allied health include:

Chief Allied Health Officer

The Government has appointed Dr Anne-marie Boxall as Chief Allied Health Officer. This role supports:

Chief Allied Health Officer

Dr Anne-marie Boxall is the Australian Government’s Chief Allied Health Officer. Allied health professionals play essential roles in primary care and in the prevention, management and treatment of chronic disease across Australia. They represent more than a quarter of the health workforce.

Chief Allied Health Officer Newsletters

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