Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH) represents 27 different allied health professions.
Accessing reliable workforce data informs decisions that allied health professionals (AHPs) and organisations providing allied health services make when operating in rural and remote communities across Australia. This page provides access to workforce data collected by government and non-government organisations that covers some of the professions that comprise SARRAHs membership.
Unfortunately, Australia does not hold comprehensive data on the allied health workforce. Generally, data is available for those professions regulated through the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) – see below. For the many self-regulated allied health professions, no official datasets are available at this time. For professions not regulated through AHPRA the relevant professional association may be the best source of information.
SARRAH continues to advocate, with allied health and other partner organisations, to address the gaps in allied health workforce and service data.
National Health Workforce Dataset (NHWDS)
The Department of Health NHWDS has been compiled through a voluntary workforce survey that is completed by AHPs who register or re-register with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and national boards of 15 identified health professions and is routinely updated. The NHWDS covers the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce, Medical Workforce and Allied Health Workforce. The following resources can be found:
Since the appointment of the Commonwealth Chief Allied Health Officer (CAHO) in 2020, the Department of Health has increased added information on the allied health workforce to its website.
What is an allied health profession?
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are qualified to apply their skills to retain, restore or gain optimal physical, sensory, psychological, cognitive, social and cultural function of clients, groups and populations. AHPs hold nationally accredited tertiary qualifications (of at least Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Level 7 or equivalent), enabling eligibility for membership of their national self-regulating professional association or registration with their national Board. The identity of allied health has emerged from these allied health professions’ client focused, inter-professional and collaborative approach that aligns them to their clients, the community, each other and their health professional colleagues.