Why an Allied Health Toolkit?

Allied health professionals are a critical and diverse group of health care providers in aged care. They help older people to function well physically, socially, and emotionally and support them to live independently in the community. The role of allied health has been recognised within the Palliative Care Australia service guidelines and in the National Palliative Care Strategy.

In the context of palliative and end-of-life care, allied health professionals (AHPs) use their specialised knowledge and skills to provide many services for older people including: 

• Interventions to promote quality of life and reduce the impact of symptoms and comorbidities at end of life
• Strategies to support people to receive care in their own home where preferred
• Care co-ordination to assist people navigate the aged care and palliative care system and make choices that are best for them
• Work collaboratively with other allied health team members to deliver patient centered care as needs change.

The 'Work Together' section of the ELDAC Care Model is a guide to help aged care staff and health professionals Work Together to meet the needs of older Australians coming to the end of their life. The ELDAC Care Model reflects national policies and practices in palliative care, and the ELDAC Toolkits can assist in addressing how to plan and deliver care for a person and contain resources that would be useful in providing care. 

This Toolkit offers AHPs a dedicated resource addressing professional and practice issues in providing care to older people approaching the end of life residing either in their own home or in residential aged care. Where older adults receive palliative care will have some influence on how allied health teams work with individuals, particularly in the referral process and funding model; but also, in how the team communicates to ensure patient-centred care remains a focus. The toolkit is broken up into relevant sections to provide background to end-of-life care in aged care, an overview of the allied health team and their roles, practice issues for AHPs, and a repository of clinical and best practice guidelines and evidence.

Tell us about your experience with the ELDAC Allied Health Toolkit

The ELDAC project team is undertaking an evaluation study of the Allied Health Toolkit. This study is the third and final stage of the Allied Health Toolkit Resource Project and we are exploring what allied health professionals think about the toolkit, to understand how it is being used to support end-of-life care of clients, and to identify potential improvements.

We would like to invite all users of the Allied Health toolkit to participate in this study.

The study has two ways to provide feedback. The first is an online survey that asks about you, your work and how you use apps and technology in general, to support care. The last part of the survey invites you to tell us about your experiences of using the toolkit as part of your everyday work.

At the end of the survey, there is an opportunity to register your interest to participate in a 30 minute interview where we will ask you in more detail about how you have used the toolkit and whether you feel it has improved your confidence, and the care that you provide to your clients at end of life.

Alternatively, you can register your interest in participating in an interview without completing the survey first. In appreciation of your time, you will be provided with a $25 gift card for helping us with the interview, and we will be looking to conduct approximately 15 interviews in total.

This research study has been approved by Flinders University's Human Research Ethics Committee [5680].

Complete the survey

Or, please provide your contact details in the form below, and a researcher will then be in touch to provide you some more information about the interview process.