Office of the Chief Allied Health Officer

The allied health workforce is significant and diverse, making up more than a quarter of the Queensland Health workforce. They are skilled practitioners with specialised expertise in health promotion, disease prevention and treatment. Allied health professionals and assistants work as part of trusted healthcare teams in hospital and community settings, to help Queensland consumers thrive where they live, work, learn and play.

The Queensland Health workforce includes over 9000 allied health professionals and technical staff working alongside doctors and nurses to provide world class health care to people in Queensland.

The Office of the Chief Allied Health Officer plays a key role in the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies to ensure an appropriately skilled allied health workforce to meet the current and future health service needs of Queensland.

The Optimising the allied health workforce for best care and best value: A-10 year Strategy 2019-2029 (PDF 1875 kB) (the Strategy), sets out the overarching vision, strategic priorities and associated initiatives for the future of allied health in Queensland Health over the next 10 years. The strategy is underpinned by a number of domain-specific strategies and plans, including:

• The Allied Health Clinical Education and Workforce Training Plan 2020-2029 (PDF 3825 kB)
  • Provides direction for the allied health workforce to work collaboratively and invest in education and training initiatives to build workforce capacity and capability across the career continuum.
• The Allied Health Workforce Plan 2022-2026 (PDF 1328 kB)
  • Guides the implementation of the workforce enabler component of the Strategy for the next five years with the vision of  optimising the allied health workforce and service models to contribute to the broader healthcare team, and provide high value, efficient and person-centred services.
• The Allied Health Research Plan 2020-2029
  • Operationalises the research pillar within the 10-year strategy and guides the development and research capacity building of allied health workforce in Queensland over the next ten years.
• The Allied Health Digital Transformation Roadmap
  • outlines the high-level initiatives that will progress the digital transformation of allied health service delivery and practice. It considers the diverse mix and expertise of allied health professions, workforce capabilities and strengths, and service opportunities in four key action areas.