A free 6-part webinar series for allied health professionals in the Northern Queensland PHN region
Running a rural allied health service is complex. Funding streams and models, workforce shortages, community needs, and regulatory requirements don't operate in isolation - and neither should you!
Rural Practice Essentials brings together system insights, business modelling, workforce strategies, and lived experience from rural practice owners to give you what you need to navigate it all.
Delivered by SARRAH in partnership with NQPHN. Starting October 2026. Free for eligible participants in the Northern Queensland PHN footprint.
Six Sessions. Practical Knowledge. Real Impact.
Session | What's Covered |
1. Introduction to Rural & Remote Allied Health | The Australian health system, health profile, regulatory environment, quality & safety, cultural responsiveness |
2. Business Sustainability | Guest presenter David Hubbard (Cinch Transform) explores funding streams, staff utilisation, overheads, and digital capability |
3. Building Service Capacity | Dr Anna Moran (Unplex) dives into models of care, workflow design, interoperability and information sharing, and how these interact to build service capacity. |
4. Workforce Planning | Anna returns to discuss workforce establishment, recruitment and retention, student placements, and allied health assistants. |
5. Wellness & Resilience | Allied health professionals as leaders; rural-specific wellbeing strategies for self and others, building resilience at work. |
6. Facilitated Panel Discussion | Hear directly from rural practice owners — their challenges, opportunities, and insights from the field |
SARRAH
Cath's been a physiotherapist for 40 years, and it's been an incredibly rewarding journey. Along the way, she's built a wide range of clinical experience across both public health and private practice, including running her own physiotherapy clinic in Cowra. Cath holds a Master of Science in Medicine (Pain Management) from the University of Sydney.
Beyond clinical practice, Cath has worked in leadership and management roles across private companies and state government health services, as well as with a remote Aboriginal Community-Controlled organisation. She also spent six years serving on the Board of a rural Primary Health Network, contributing to the strengthening of primary care services in regional communities.
Cath is a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Program with Women and Leadership Australia, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association.
David Hubbard is Director of CINCH Transform, a seasoned financial strategist and transformation expert, worked with over $3.6b NDIS, Allied Health, Foundation and Community focused businesses providing practical actionable insights.
A purpose-driven approach, David combines deep expertise in finance, operations, and workforce dynamics to help CEOs achieve real clarity and lasting change.
David brings a unique blend of operational and financial insights into the conversation, designed to equip decision-makers with actionable steps to improve cashflow, boost efficiency, and navigate the evolving service-based business landscape, while strengthening team performance and organisational impact.
Dr Anna Moran solves problems, makes plans, loves data, and drives a taxi for four children. Also: she pokes at the parts of rural health that don't work, then rebuilds them with the people who live inside the mess.
Anna has spent twenty years across clinical practice, academia, policy and consultancy. 30+ peer-reviewed papers later, she realised that they only earn their keep if they change what happens in rural practice, not just updating a reference list. Having lived the impact of poor service design from every angle, she decided to move into health-tech and is now co-designing a care coordination platform, UNPLEXi™, alongside support workers, rural providers, allied health professionals and people with disability and chronic health conditions.
Anna is allergic to jargon and PowerPoint slides but professes she is prone to dreaming about spreadsheets and sentences she's proud of. She does Zumba badly but she does rural health design properly.
Rural and remote allied health services operate in a complex environment where policy settings, business sustainability and community expectations are deeply interconnected. The Rural Practice Essentials Program will help you navigate our complicated health system, and build service capacity.*
*Please note- RPE is not a business course - it is a risk‑reduction and capacity‑building intervention for rural and remote allied health services. Participation supports clinicians to develop and deliver services that are sustainable, accountable, workforce‑ready and resilient.
To ensure the content and topics align with the needs of local allied health professionals, we are opening an Expression of Interest (EOI) phase. Your feedback will allow us to maximise opportunities for those seeking professional support for their practice.
Submissions are open now and will close on 27 September 2026.