Clear messaging is the key to elevating allied health’s value in aged care

The introduction of a brand-new allied health staffing quality indicator this year will likely pave the way for an increased focus on allied health in aged care. However, improved messaging is also essential to further elevate its value.

Allied health is arguably at a crossroads in 2025. December data from Mirus Australia reported an average of 9.70 allied health minutes per resident per day in residential aged care. StewartBrown’s 2023-24 Financial Year analysis reported a more concerning return of just 4.46 minutes. 

StewartBrown analysis also suggested that many providers, residents and professionals do not believe the current funding and use of allied health is sufficient.

While these figures do not reveal the full picture – many aged care providers are going above and beyond to deliver quality services in residential and community settings – they highlight that full potential has not been achieved. 

AgeFIT Solutions Principal Consultant Dr Tim Henwood told Hello Leaders that messaging around allied health must improve to benefit older people, providers and health professionals. 

“The government is aware of the value of allied health for older adult wellbeing and has done a good job putting funding on the table to support people into allied health pathways. However, while the government and aged care providers are aware that allied health works, they don’t know how to implement it effectively,” Dr Henwood said. 

“Many providers struggle to see how they can turn allied health into a sustainable model of care, and often it just floats along, delivered at a less-than-optimal level to facilitate client benefits. Providers lose money or have to fund it from another business stream.

“Complicating this, the individual doesn’t know where to go or what to access. Care providers and General Practitioners don’t know enough to guide people down the right paths. Which ends up with people getting lost in the system and/or having a less-than-beneficial experience.”

While he praised the government for its ongoing investment in allied health, Dr Henwood said he would like a more serious approach to education. 

“I’d love to see government messaging in the same way the government messaged about smoking or HIV. We need a greater level of awareness in our older age groups about how they can reverse their functional decline, address their health issues and reduce the risk of them ending up in hospital,” he added.

“Exercise and discipline-specific allied health are proven methods for older people to push back their decline. There is an opportunity for messaging out there.

“We also need better education and health literacy for our carers, caregivers, consumers and providers about how people can get involved in health and wellness – not necessarily just allied health.”

The role of regulation

The new allied health staffing quality indicator will inherently promote allied health’s value for residential aged care. Growing optimism also surrounds the belief that this will result in direct funding as part of care minutes and AN-ACC.

Dr Henwood called the new staffing indicators a step in the right direction. 

“I believe the government is playing a strategic game and is listening to what the sector wants – to bring more allied health back into the residential aged care space,” he said.

“The government knows that the number of people in the community aged care sector will start to increase rapidly with the baby boomers entering the space and no new residential aged care bed being built. It is therefore essential we keep people in community for longer, and the best way to do this is to offer health and wellness options to facilitate and prolong independence. 

“The government recognises the important role allied health and therapy will play in this, and I have my fingers crossed this understanding will translate to fund it at a good dollar value under the Support at Home program.”

Regulation itself won’t fix the problem of neglected reablement approaches, however. Aged care providers must still buy into the benefits and cannot afford to avoid delivering critical services. 

“The incoming Quality Standards regularly reference reablement, restorative care, allied health and independence. However, in the draft guide providers were directed to offer it as long as it matched the client’s preference. This would allow the provider a tick-box option for reablement offered but the client declined. We need to move past that and align ourselves to evidence-based best practice,” he said.

“It can occur the same way we do an action-incident-outcome. Every time we have an incident in the aged care space, we need to find out what the incident was and what caused it, then follow up with practice and process to ensure it doesn’t happen again. 

“We could apply this to health decline. As an example, client falls, we review the environment and cause, we action a medication or footwear review and we put in place an exercise physiologist-led fall prevention program. Then we follow up in six-week intervals to review balance improvement and fall prevention.

“If we don’t do this, we’ll continue to have falls, disability, low mobility and functional decline that impacts things like social engagement or mental health disorders. We need to be more proactive and embrace the evidence.”

Emphasising value to older people

Before returning to independent consultancy in 2024, Dr Henwood worked with aged care provider Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC) as Group Manager, Health & Wellness. 

He helped the organisation expand its reach from 600 clients in 2017 to over 3,500 at six allied health and therapy centres. Roughly 140 staff were employed to deliver a range of services. 

It was an unbelievable opportunity to expand allied health and wellness and that elevated Southern Cross Care to having one of Australia’s best Health and Wellness offerings in community aged care. Dr Henwood said clients loved the evidence-based, sustainable model of care.

Unfortunately, one of the challenges in allied health is convincing older people of its value. Dr Henwood said the quiet generation has typically been less receptive to physical exercise and rarely pushes for progress from providers. 

“It breaks my heart when I see providers advertising their fitness, health and wellness services and someone is holding 0.5 kg dumbbells. They weigh less than a carton of milk. You have to embrace the evidence and ask people to push themselves. When you do, the results are phenomenal. There are so many opportunities to reable people,” Dr Henwood said.

“Some of it’s a hard sell and some of it’s an easy sell. But there are many different ways to underpin positive healthy ageing. It can be walking groups, tai chi or at a local gym.

“There are several important factors when asking clients or residents to become and remain engaged in high-intensity progressive resistance training. Health literacy and good staff are essential, as well as demonstrating to the client the benefits, including the social engagement from group participation.”

The incoming baby boomer generation will challenge the health and well-being status quo in aged care. The tide is already turning as the older cohort has flocked to fitness and wellness activities all while integrating these experiences with social engagement. 

Dr Henwood said baby boomer clients are more likely to research and embrace activities that will keep them at home longer. If aged care organisations can recognise that older people want to invest in their health, he said success will follow for providers, too. 

“We’re seeing different trends which will hopefully underpin greater involvement. That means there’s an opportunity for aged care providers to set up health and wellness centres or allied health practices which can lead to sustainable business models,” Dr Henwood added.

“Working with Southern Cross Care taught me if you have a good allied health and therapy front door this will flow through to increasing your client base for the rest of the organisation.”