Allied Health Assistants (AHA) are integral to the work of Allied Health in the delivery of services to Northern Health clients. They work as part of an interdisciplinary health care team with other health professionals in a range of services and care settings. Northern Health currently has 25 Allied Health Assistants, including Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 roles, employed across Northern Health campuses in acute, continuing care and community programs.

All staff are supported by structured supervision based on the Northern Health Allied Health Supervision Framework. Staff are also encouraged to actively participate in a range of meetings committees and professional development, through campus, program or discipline initiatives.

Grade 1 & 2 Allied Health Assistants

Grade 1 and 2 AHA, have been an important part of service provision across Northern Health for many years.  The Grade 1 & 2 AHA are primarily responsible to a single discipline and can be found working in Physiotherapy, Speech Pathology, Dietetics, Occupational Therapy and Social Work. They work directly with an allied health professional, following a prescribed program of activity, using communication and interpersonal skills to assist in meeting the needs of clients. Grade 1 and 2 AHA are required to accurately document client contact in the medical record and assist to identify client circumstances that need additional input from the supervising allied health professionals.

Grade 3 Allied Health Assistants – New Workforce Roles

The training and implementation of Grade 3 AHA within Northern Health is part of our health service wide workforce strategy that supports development and implementation of new workforce roles. The health service has a strong track record in developing, implementing, evaluating and sustaining innovative service models and workforce roles, particularly in areas with an emphasis on interdisciplinary practice.

The implementation of Grade 3 AHA roles at Northern Health has been two fold. First was the successful pilot through the Department of Human Services funded Better Skills Best Care scheme, where an advanced practice AHA was trialled successfully in the paediatrics service at Panch Health Service. Secondly, the development and expansion of the AHA workforce is largely due to the opening of Craigieburn Health Service (CHS).

Seven Grade 3 AHA positions have been implemented across Northern Health, five at CHS in Paediatrics, Ambulatory Therapy and Chronic Disease Management and two at The Northern Hospital in Epping in a Medical Assessment and Planning Unit and a Medical Ward with an acute neurological and dementia population.

Northern Health made a decision that these roles would not be in traditional AHA roles i.e. working with a specific allied health discipline, however would work across all disciplines developing an interdisciplinary approach to care and so work in a patient centred way with direction from both nursing and allied health staff. The aims of these positions are to improve the quality of patient care, enhance discharge planning and enable allied health professionals and nursing staff to focus more effectively on higher-level professional tasks across a greater number of patients.

We have worked in collaboration with Kangan Batman Institute to establish and support Grade 3 AHA training, with Northern Health allied health staff designing the training materials and delivering a significant proportion of the clinical skill development components of the training program. The additional training materials were critical to ensure the competency and workforce readiness of graduates.

Kangan Batman Institute
Mayfield