Rural and remote allied health professionals

Rural and remote practice provides great opportunities for allied health professionals to develop a broad range of clinical skills and to contribute to the health of their community.

Working rurally can also provide challenges, particularly in terms of professional development and career progression.

Queensland Health provides positions and programs specifically designed to support rural and remote allied health professionals.

Allied Health Rural Generalist Pathway

Queensland Health is working with partners in the health and education sectors across Australia to develop a rural generalist pathway for the allied health professions. The Queensland Health Allied Health Rural Generalist Pathway supports hospital and health services to implement comprehensive service development, workforce/employment and training programs in rural and remote allied health teams.

Allied Health Rural Generalist Pathway information sheet (PDF 579 kB)

Allied Health Rural Generalist Training Positions

Queensland Health has Allied Health Rural Generalist Training Positions in rural and remote areas across the state. They are a key component of the Allied Health Rural Generalist Pathway. These positions provide a range of benefits for early career allied health professionals including:

• designated training time incorporated into the position;
• profession-specific supervision and support from an experienced practitioner;
• training programs delivered by the Cunningham Centre and by university partners; and
• the opportunity to work in innovative rural generalist services utilising telehealth, extended scope including skill sharing, allied health assistants and other strategies.

Evaluation Reports

• Allied Health Rural Generalist Training Positions 2014-16 Implementation Summary (PDF 548 kB)
• Allied Health Rural Generalist Training Positions 2015-16 Implementation Report (PDF 758 kB)
• Allied Health Rural Generalist Training Positions 2014 Implementation Report (PDF 501 kB)
• Attachment A: Southern Cross University Evaluation of the Queensland Health Allied Health Rural Generalist Training Program (AHRGTP) Final Report (PDF 834 kB)

Allied Health Rural Generalist Education

The Allied Health Rural Generalist Education Framework (PDF 1844 kB) was created in 2015-16 to support the development of rural generalist training programs for seven allied health professions. Profession-specific information for social work and psychology was added in 2018.

The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association completed a project for Queensland Health in 2018 to design the foundations of an accreditation system for post-graduate rural generalist education programs for the allied health professions. The project outputs included a:

• Project completion report (PDF 1005 kB)
• Accreditation system key documents including competency framework (PDF 1424 kB)

Allied Health Rural Generalist Program

The Allied Health Professions' Office of Queensland is working with James Cook University and QUT on the implementation of the Level 1 Rural Generalist Program and the Graduate Diploma of Rural Generalist Practice (Level 2 program). The education programs are specifically designed to meet the development needs of rural and remote allied health professionals and support the implementation of the Allied Health Rural Generalist Training Positions.

HP3 to HP4 Rural Development Pathway

The Allied Health HP3 to HP4 Rural Development Pathway is a human resource and workforce development strategy which supports rural and remote services to recruit early career allied health professionals.

The strategy includes:

• human resources policy (PDF 220 kB),
• framework of allied health rural and remote practice capabilities (the Rural Development Pathway), and
• learning and support resources linked to the development areas of the Rural Development Pathway.

Allied Health Rural Generalist Leadership and Education Capacity Building

Queensland Health provides a 12-month program for emerging rural and remote allied health leaders that includes mentoring and funded post-graduate education in health services management or health professional education.  The program supports the development of the established rural generalist workforce.

Rural and remote allied health service models

New services models are being developed to support the provision of consistent and high quality allied health services in rural and remote areas of Queensland.

The Allied Health Rural and Remote Sub-acute Framework

The Allied Health Rural and Remote Sub-acute Framework (PDF 523 kB) provides a structure to support consistent, high quality and sustainable sub-acute service models in rural areas of Queensland in order to expedite step-down care and provide services closer to home. It describes key components for allied health sub-acute service capabilities in rural facilities, including greater use of telehealth, delegation and skill sharing.

The Framework was developed in consultation with allied health professionals working in rural and remote parts of Queensland and has been endorsed by the Statewide Rehabilitation Clinical Network and Statewide Rural and Remote Clinical Network.