Strengthening allied health governance in the Catholic health sector

Rachel Resuggan, Group Allied Health Manager St John of God Health Care

Since its inception in 2020 Catholic Health Australia’s Allied Health Committee has continued to leverage the strength of the CHA network for the greater good of allied health professionals among our members.

The Committee came together initially for the purposes of strengthening the allied health voice in key national reforms and leveraging the successful advocacy role of Catholic Health Australia as well as providing a forum for the exchange of information and collaboration across the Catholic health sector to drive clinical excellence and improve the quality of health care.

It is rewarding to celebrate our achievements to date. We have seen a strong focus on advocating for allied health professionals in government health reform.

A CHA representative has been present at the Allied Health Industry Reference Group (AHIRG), Margaret Lazar, Executive Director Allied Health St Vincent’s Hospital, a national forum established to discuss key issues related to allied health and to support Dr Anne-Marie Boxall’s role as Chief Allied Health Officer. It provides a regular forum for our sector to discuss national-level allied health policy, programs, and address other strategic issues.

Our committee members, Kirby Young, Chief Allied Health Officer at Cabrini, Anne-maree Buttner, Director Allied Health at Mater, Rachel Resuggan, Group Manager Allied Health at St John of God Health Care, presented at the National Allied Health Conference 2021 “Allied Health Governance in the Catholic Health Sector – bringing the allied health voice to the national systems level” to showcase CHA’s Allied Health committee to peers in Australia.

We have also been using our network to collaborate on fostering informal support amongst CHA allied health leaders to address funding and workforce challenges.

The current focus of the committee continues to be on five key areas.

Firstly, given that five of the Allied Health professions have been identified in the top 10 positions to fill in Australia 2020 our focus will be on the development of strategies and initiatives to address the critical workforce shortages. We need to do this in a way that allows us to continue to meet the spiralling demand for services whilst supporting the wellbeing of allied health professionals.

Secondly, we will continue to advocate for allied health services to be a key component of Australian health funding reform, including telehealth funding, and private health funding to ensure that private health services remain sustainable and are seen as an important component of Australian health care.

Thirdly, we will be exploring the impact of the NDIS policy, aged care reform and how this interacts and impacts health care services to ensure service integration and workforce sustainability in all of these areas.

Fourthly, we will continue to work with governments to raise the profile of the allied health sector and serve as a valuable resource for consultation on issues of importance to clinicians and Catholic service operators.

Lastly, we will explore how allied health services among CHA members have adapted to the challenges that COVID has posed, share those learnings and promoting new ways of operating.

As chairperson, I believe the strength of the Committee comes from having a network of leaders in the organisation who have a platform to share our issues and enable CHA to advocate on behalf of the group. The old proverb of a problem shared is a problem halved. I would like to acknowledge the support of CHA Policy team and also to the Committee members for their ongoing time and support.