Allied Health Team
This section of the Toolkit describes the allied health team, which is made up of key professions who have regular input with older adults receiving palliative and end-of-life care. Discipline specific pages have been collated to provide a summary of the scope of practice for each team member, including useful tools, resources for further learning (to support best practice), and information for individuals or their families engaging with each discipline.
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are described as “University qualified practitioners with specialised expertise in preventing, diagnosing and treating a range of conditions and illnesses.”
Professions included in this definition are broad. The Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) particularly reference the larger allied health groups:
In addition, PalliAGED - the palliative care evidence and practice information resource for the Australian aged care sector - references
as key allied health team members.
Each of these professions have regulatory bodies that ensure clinicians are adequately trained to work within their scope, and that there is currency in practice. AHPs are required to undertake professional development in a variety of areas relevant to their work to maintain currency. For AHPs frequently working with older adults in aged care, it would be desirable that professional development might include general upskilling in palliative care, and use of discipline specific guidelines and resources where available.