Media Releases

   On balance the 2022 Federal Budget has been broadly well received, a considerable achievement given the circumstances. It focused on delivering promises the Government made during the election campaign – which didn’t include much on allied health. But allied health service capacity across rural and remote Australia is in crisis. As the peak body for allied health professionals working in rural and remote Australia, SARRAH is looking to coming months and the 2023-24 Budget for Government to show it understands and intends to help address these issues.  We are more than willing to help.

“Allied Health Professions Day recognises all the health disciplines that make up this vital workforce” said Cath Maloney, SARRAH CEO. “The National Skills Commission has projected demand in the overall workforce will grow by around 9 per in the five years to November 2026. This is more than a statistical curiosity. Surely a professional workforce that has doubled in 5 years and is projected to continue to grow is worth taking time to understand”, Cath says.  READ FULL MEDIA RELEASE HERE 

 CEO RE-APPOINTMENT A POSITIVE FOR RURAL ALLIED HEALTH WHEN CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACHES, EXPERTISE AND REFORM ARE NEEDED Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH), the peak body for allied health professionals working in rural and remote Australia, is pleased to announce SARRAH CEO, Cath Maloney, has been re-appointed for a further three years. SARRAH president, Dr Ed Johnson, said: “I am pleased to announce Cath Maloney will continue to lead SARRAH for a further three years. Cath’s re-appointment reinforces the stability and expertise SARRAH brings to our work to improve access to allied health services for the 7 million people living in rural and remote Australia. We are well placed to represent our members and advocate for much needed health, disability, aged care and other services for rural and remote Australians.” Ms Maloney said she was delighted to have been reappointed and proud of what SARRAH has accomplished over the past three years. “SARRAH is implementing a nationally significant workforce development project that is growing the number of allied health rural generalists – physiotherapists, speech pathologists, psychologists and the like - delivering primary care services across rural and remote Australia. We are also working to increase the reach and capacity of allied health professionals by developing the assistant workforce needed to support them. Both of these projects – funded by the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care - are providing much-needed infrastructure and training supports to service providers working in areas where the need is greatest. Read full media release here 

Meeting 3 -  Communique The third meeting of the Primary and Community Healthcare Advisory Committee (the Committee) was held at 1:00pm AEST on 16 August 2022 via videoconference.The meeting was chaired by Margaret Banks, Director, National Standards Program, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission).Substantive items discussed during the meeting included: Healthcare Variation Measurement and Quality Improvement Implementation of the National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards Improving Stakeholder Experience Read full Communique here 

“Providing NDIS participants with the allied health services they need has been an ongoing challenge for the scheme,” said Cath Maloney, CEO of Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health. “Children with developmental disorders are waiting up to two years to access therapeutic services. The consequences of this delay can mean lifelong challenges for those children. Many thousands of families are being affected, across Australia, but especially in rural and remote areas. It is completely at odds with what the NDIS is meant to deliver.” Read more 

Gemma Tuxworth writes: Six days ago, on 12 May, we saw a rare acknowledgement of the difficulties Australians face accessing essential allied health services. An ABC report shone a light on the need for more occupational therapists and speech pathologists. At SARRAH we know this is a mere snapshot of endemic shortages in allied health professionals and service access across Australia. And, if you live in a regional, rural or remote community that access is harder and, too often, non-existent. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Gemma Tuxworth, SARRAH’s acting CEO, explains: “Skilled allied health professionals - the second largest group of health professionals nationally – lead jobs demand yet they are all but ignored by policy makers. This is unfathomable given existing shortages and the findings of the Aged Care and Disability Royal Commissions that identified this workforce is critical to achieve better outcomes for vulnerable Australians.” Read the full media release here 

You will be aware of much of the high level priorities and detail included in the Commonwealth Government’s proposed 2022-23 Budget delivered on Tuesday night (29 March) and the Opposiiton response delivered on Thursday night (31 MarchThis document provides a summary of announcements made in the Budget that are likely to be of most relevance to SARRAH members and our organisation’s objectives. We use the original source material (copied where necessary) and links to importance sources. Click here to read the full report 

The Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) is set to commence in October 2022, and aims to support residential aged care providers to boost the quantum of care delivered daily to resident to meet a new standard of 200 minutes per resident per day. While this includes a minimum 40 minutes per day with a registered nurse, no such benchmarks have been set for allied health services. Click here to read full media release.

SARRAH calls on all politicians and aspirants to prioritise access to the ‘universal health care’ we pride ourselves on but too many can’t get. Rural communities need GPs, but they also need all the other services that keep them out of hospital, well and independent.   How universal is a health system that delivers worse health outcomes for people in rural and remote Australia year after year? People have different and complex health needs, they deserve a fit-for-purpose multidisciplinary health workforce, skilled in providing team-based care.  This is what we need from Governments, whoever they are. Allied health workforce and service shortages impact people living in rural and remote Australia adversely every day. Addressing them should be an urgent priority.  Health should be among the highest priorities for candidates in the coming Federal election. How much do they know about access to the services people need?  Click here to read full media release.