PRESS RELEASE: Help stop the suffering: Allied Health Professions Australia launches ‘Fair Access to Allied Health for All’ campaign.
MEDIA RELEASE
Launching 1 March 2022: Fair Access to Allied Health for All Campaign
Help stop the suffering. Vote for Fair Access to Allied Health for All – Tuesday 01.02.2022
Allied Health Professions Australia is proud to be launching our ‘Fair Access to Allied Health for All’ election advocacy campaign on Tuesday 1 March 2022. We’re calling on the public to make their vote count at the upcoming election and help stop the suffering caused by lack of access to allied health services across Australia.
Allied health professionals working alongside doctors, nurses, teachers, and carers are crucial to the best health and wellbeing outcomes. They provide unique value to the Australian health, care and support system because they are diverse, preventive, collaborative and holistic; as well as being cost efficient.
However, most people, particularly those with the greatest need, don’t have access they need to the allied health services that would improve their lives. They’re suffering mentally, physically, socially, and financially because the allied health services they desperately need are out of reach.
‘Poor access to allied health services in my area and financial burden has meant more than decreased mobility due to no physiotherapy, it means that I am isolated from friends and social connections’ says Amy Jones, a 31-year-old woman from Tamworth, NSW who lives with a range of disabilities and chronic health conditions. ‘Allied health should be accessible for all, regardless of location and economic status.’
AHPA CEO Claire Hewat states that change to allied health access is long over-due: ‘People have been suffering around the country for too long as essential allied health services remain unavailable to them for many reasons. ‘From living in rural and remote areas where services are too far away, to the unbearable financial burden of gap fees and lack of Medicare coverage, not to mention the dismal average of 3 minutes per day of allied health care in aged care facilities. It’s time to make allied health services accessible for all, and this requires urgent government intervention.’
AHPA have developed a range of resources at their website ahpa.com.au/electioncampaign, including information to inform voting choices, a digital kit for sharing on social media and an opportunity for those impacted by lack of access to allied health to tell their story.
It’s time to stop the suffering. It’s time for fair access to allied health for all.
CEO Claire Hewat is available for comment.
Please direct media inquiries to Suzie Medhurst – Communications Manager 0448958682 ENDS
