Strengthening the allied health workforce: policy, practice and research issues and opportunities.

This special issue of Australian Health Review features original research articles, reviews and perspectives dedicated to the theme strengthening the allied health workforce. Of the total healthworkforce,more than 126 000 are registered allied health practitioners in Australia. With the growing demands upon the health system from patients with complex and chronic conditions, there is a resurgence of interest in strengthening the allied health workforce. At the 2014Victorian Allied Health Research Conference, the allied health workforce was viewed as the glue in the health system with the potential to ease the pressure off the health system and to create system-level resiliency. It is timely to reflect upon the allied health workforce, as over a decade ago a comprehensive review was conducted of the allied health workforce by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) to inform national-level workforce planning. The 2004 AHMAC review highlighted multiple key issues facing the allied health workforce, and multiple key actions areas under four key domains: workforce roles; data collection; education and training; and national structures. Later in this editorial I briefly reflect upon the substantial allied health workforce developments that have occurred since the 2004 AHMAC review. In this special issue of Australian Health Review we publish a series of papers that aim to contribute to the evidence base to inform decision-making regarding allied health workforce policy, practices and research. We start with two perspectives. Philip emphasises the unrealised potential of how allied health can address the many challenges facing the health system. Markham then highlights that the time has come to recognise that allied health leaders and clinicians can have an active role in leading health care reform. Over the last decade, many nationaland state-level, policyfocussed consultations and reviews of the allied health workforce have been conducted. Nancarrow et al. report on the findings of the Queensland Health Ministerial Taskforce review of the expansion of scope of practice of allied health roles. Skinner et al. then canvases key issues (regulatory, educational, evidence) that need attention and development to optimise allied health work in specialised advanced and extended roles. Pearce and Pagett provides a case study of the emerging role of allied health assistants in the Australian Capital Territory. With the recognition that allied health assistants need to be working to their full scope of practice, Somerville et al. present a model to assist services to identify tasks suitable for delegation to an allied health assistant by an allied health professional. Patient-centred care is a widely recognised underlying principle of all models of service delivery in health care. Harding et al. describe the findings of a qualitative study of patient’s experience and perception of being seen by an expandedscope-of-practice physiotherapist, specifically a musculoskeletal physiotherapist.Harding et al. then alsodescribes the process of developing a clinical education framework designed to support physiotherapists undertaking advanced musculoskeletal physiotherapy service roles. With the increasing demands upon the health system, health workforce retention is a significant issue, especially in thehospital setting. Wilson provides evidence that job satisfaction is an important predictor of intention to leave for allied health professionals working in metropolitan hospitals. While compliance with evidence-based practice is a given, Ziviani et al. provide insights from a survey of allied health staff to propose new organisational structures that are required to enhance evidence-based practice by allied health practitioners. The last two papers focus on building and embedding research capacity within the allied health workforce. Williams et al. present findings of a cross-sectional survey of the allied health workforce within Victoria to inform how to engage allied health clinicians in research activities. The special issue endswith an investigation into the research culture within hospital allied health departments. Skinner focuses specifically on physiotherapists working in hospitals to advocate that hospital allied health departments establish research registers and other strategies to improve research culture and productivity. All the papers contribute to our understanding of the nexus between allied health workforce policy, practice and research and are designed to encourage readers to engage in conversations to inform future allied health workforce innovation. To set the scene for this special issue, I now briefly reflect upon the 2004 AHMAC review of the allied health workforce, presenting key issues and developments that have occurred since the 2004 AHMAC review (Table 1).