Beyond Support: Allied Health Assistants in Aged Care
Written by Andy Richardson, Certified Practising Allied Health Assistant at Canberra Health Services & Chair, Allied Health Assistants National Association (AHANA)
In the ever-evolving landscape of aged care, including palliative care, one group of health professionals is asking us to reconsider how Allied Health Assistants (AHAs) can support how care is delivered. AHAs support physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, dietitians, and other allied health professionals (AHPs) to ensure people receive timely, effective, and person-centred care that honours dignity and choice. But despite their potential, AHAs are being underutilised.
With Pressure Comes Opportunity
With aged care services under immense pressure from workforce shortages and rising demand, the Allied Health Assistant workforce isn’t just a practical solution, it’s a catalyst for change. AHAs are not simply task-doers; they are essential partners in delivering compassionate, consistent, and person-centred care. In palliative aged care, this could look like AHAs delivering comfort-focused interventions, such as mobility support, positioning for pain relief, assistance with communication, and facilitating meaningful engagement.
“As AHAs, we don’t just support care, we strengthen it,” says Andy Richardson, Chair of the Allied Health Assistants National Association (AHANA), “We are the quiet force behind great care, grounded in trust, driven by purpose, and bold enough to bridge knowledge, culture, and compassion”. He continues, “When AHAs are empowered to work at full scope, we don’t just lighten the load, we elevate the entire care experience. We enable Allied Health Professionals to focus on their most specialised and high-impact work, while ensuring care remains grounded, responsive, and deeply human.”
Despite national and state-level workforce strategies highlighting the need for innovative models of care, AHAs remain inconsistently utilised across aged care settings. A recent collaboration (2024 – 2025) between the University of Canberra (ACT), Macquarie University (NSW) and Concentric Healthcare services (NSW) sought to explore feasibility and acceptability of a multidisciplinary allied health reablement model for older people [1]. The project sought to understand the barriers and enablers to AHA integration, test new models of delegation and supervision, and build the capacity of aged care providers to adopt evidence-informed workforce redesign.
Findings from the project identified several critical insights, but primarily that services using the model reported:
- Increased contact time and better care and clinical outcomes
- High satisfaction with the model and care delivery
- AHAs were able to increase contact time with older people, and support AHPs to work to top of scope
These findings reinforce the need for national investment in AHA workforce development and the importance of embedding AHAs as core members of aged care teams, not just as support staff, but as skilled contributors to quality care. Following on from this study, the research team are now also exploring how allied health care for older people in residential aged care (The “EAHOP” study [2]) can incorporate AHAs within an integrated transdisciplinary model of care for falls and falls risk.
As a relatively new profession, barriers to integrating AHAs into care teams have been identified as low confidence in understanding scope and role. Targeted resources developed by the Victorian Department of Health [3] aimed to address this. Following the release of the resources including position description template, delegation tools, and clinician checklists, the study found that across health, disability, and aged care sectors these resources were downloaded thousands of times. Aged care professionals were particularly keen to use them to clarify AHA roles, improve governance, and support workforce planning, showing an appetite for innovative workforce solutions and inclusion of AHAs within the aged care health team.
The resources can be found in the ELDAC Allied Health Toolkit – Allied Health Assistant overview, as well as a link to the Allied Health Assistants National Association (AHANA) page and their video explainer on the role of the Allied Health Assistant.
Want to hear more?
🔗 Andy Richardson, Chair Allied Health Assistants National Association (AHANA) will be joining a panel presentation on Friday 28 November, hosted by the Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying (RePaDD). This seminar will explore how AHA's and AHP's can advocate for best practice care within the new aged care reform landscape.
References:
Andy Richardson
Certified Practising Allied Health Assistant at Canberra Health Services