Published 6 September 2024
The Australian Ageing Agenda are continuing to highlight the underprovision of allied health in aged care and its impact.
AHPA and our member Speech Pathology Australia are featured in another article that discussed the  2023 Aged Care Provider Workforce Survey and how despite the increase in aged care workers, allied health needs remain unmet.
AHPA Aged Care Working Group member and Senior Advisor Aged Care Kym Torresi said ‘The Royal Commission found that only 2 per cent of Home Care Package funding was being used on allied health services. We know from allied health professionals on the ground and from consumers’ reports to us that there remain consistent themes of unmet allied health needs in home care that are similar to those for aged care residents.
‘As we move to a new Support At Home program and the hope for a greater identification of allied health need and focus on reablement, a far bigger increase in the number of allied health professionals will be required.’