About allied health
The allied health sector is diverse in the ACT and includes therapeutic, diagnostic and scientific professions.
Allied health professionals are employed in a wide range of settings including the ACT and Commonwealth public sectors, non-government organisations, community services, and private sectors.
You can find allied health in:
- hospitals
- community health centres
- GP surgeries
- private practices
- aged care settings
- disability services
- mental health services
- schools
- home care services.
Allied health professionals may work on their own, or as part of health or community services. They work as part of a health team made up of different health professions to support the needs of the patient.
They can work on their own or with assistants, technicians or support workers. They often have university qualifications in their field and apply their skills to retain, restore or gain optimal physical, sensory, psychological, cognitive, social and cultural function of clients, groups and populations.
Allied health professions
Watch the following clips to learn more about the allied health professions that are helping improve the lives of the Canberra community.
Meet a public health officer
Meet a physiotherapist
Meet an occupational therapist
Meet a microbiologist
Meet a cardiac sonographer
Meet a psychologist
Meet a paramedic
Professional peak bodies
In the ACT, allied health includes the following professions. The links below will take you to professional association or peak body website for that profession:
- Aboriginal liaison officers
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners
- Allied health assistants
- Audiologists
- Biomedical engineers
- Cardiac perfusionists
- Cardiac scientists
- Chinese medicine practitioners
- Chiropractors
- Clinical neurophysiology scientists
- Counsellors
- Creative art therapists
- Dental assistants
- Dental prosthetists
- Dental technicians
- Dental therapists
- Dietitians
- Environmental chemists
- Environment health officers
- Epidemiologists
- Exercise physiologists
- Forensic chemists
- Forensic toxicologists
- Genetic counsellors
- Medical laboratory scientists
- Medical physicists
- Microbiologists
- Music therapists
- Nuclear medicine technologists
- Occupational therapists
- Oral health therapists
- Orthoptists
- Orthotists/Prosthetists
- Osteopaths
- Paramedics
- Pedorthists
- Pharmacists
- Physiotherapists
- Podiatrists
- Psychologists
- Radiation therapists
- Radiographers
- Respiratory scientists
- Sleep scientists
- Social workers
- Sonographers
- Speech pathologists.
Allied health assistants
Allied health assistants work under the supervision of allied health professionals to support the best outcomes for patient care.
Allied Health Assistants can join the national peak body for Allied Health Assistants
Allied health assistants provide care across many disciplines including:
- aged care
- community centres
- dietetics
- exercise physiology
- hospital settings
- mental health
- occupational therapy
- physiotherapy
- podiatry
- private practices
- rehabilitation
- social work
- speech pathology
Canberra Institute of Technology is the local provider of allied health assistance qualifications. For more information, visit allied health at CIT.
Current vacancies for allied health assistants in ACT Public Service are available on the ACT Government careers website.
Regulation of allied health
Allied health professions fall into one of two groups:
- those that are regulated through the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS)
- those that are self-regulated.
National Registration and Accreditation Scheme regulated professions
The Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency (Ahpra) works with national boards to regulate professionals under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme.
National Registration and Accreditation Scheme regulation is outlined in the Health Practitioner Regulation Law Act (ACT) 2010 to ensure the public has access to a safe health workforce.
Renewal of registration is an annual requirement and the individual practitioner must meet their boards’ standards for recency of practice, continuing professional development, English skills, criminal history and professional indemnity insurance.
Ahpra maintains a public list of the health practitioners who are registered, including those with conditions relating to their practice.
For more information about Ahpra and the 15 national boards, or the public list of health professionals, visit the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency website.
The following allied health professions are required by law to be included under the national registration and accreditation scheme:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners
- Chinese medicine practitioners
- Chiropractors
- Dental practitioners
- Medical radiation practitioners (for example, nuclear medicine technologists, radiation therapists and radiographers)
- Occupational therapists
- Optometrists
- Osteopaths
- Paramedics
- Pharmacists
- Physiotherapists
- Podiatrists
- Psychologists.
Doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives are also regulated through Ahpra.
Self-regulated health professions
Some allied health professions are self-regulated by a peak body or professional association.
The profession specific peak body may have membership criteria such as continuing professional development and ethical practice. Accreditation of approved programs of study and recognition of overseas trained health professionals is usually managed by the relevant professional body.
The National Alliance of Self-Regulating Health Professions (NASRHP) aims to support national consistency for self-regulating health professionals. Allied health professions with membership of NASRHP include:
- Audiologists
- Creative arts therapists and counsellors
- Dietitians
- Exercise physiologists
- Genetic counsellors
- Orthotists/Prosthetists
- Music therapists
- Perfusionists
- Rehabilitation counsellors
- Social workers
- Speech pathologists
Feedback and complaints
If you would like to provide feedback to a public health facility, visit the Canberra Health Services consumer feedback page.
If you would like to provide feedback about a private health service, contact the service provider directly in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the ACT Health Services Commissioner.
Complaints regarding a professional’s behaviour, including unsafe or behaviour which places the public at risk, can be made with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency or the relevant self-regulating professional body directly.