Government to establish Chief Allied Health Officer

The Minister for Health, Ms Tanya Plibersek (left), today announced that the Government would establish the Commonwealth’s first Chief Allied Health Officer to support the work of thousands of important health professionals. The Chief Allied Health Officer will provide advice on how best to strengthen their role.

Allied health professionals make up about 20 per cent of the health workforce.
The establishment of a Chief Allied Health Officer responds to a recommendation of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee, following its inquiry into the factors affecting the supply of health services and medical professionals in rural areas.

The committee found that allied health professionals face additional challenges in delivering services to regional, rural and remote Australia. Medicare Locals also provide important new opportunities for allied health services to be more effective and more accessible in local communities across Australia.

This announcement follows a similar one last week in Victoria, confirming that Ms Kathleen Philip has been appointed as Chief Allied Health Advisor in the Victorian Department of Health.

The ADA has consistently argued that dentistry is not an allied health field, and that a Dental Advisory Committee should be established federally.