Across community aged care it is incredibly common to see physiotherapy referrals structured around low-frequency visits. A client may receive a physiotherapy visit once a week, once a fortnight, or even once a month under programs such as Support at Home or previously through Home Care Packages.
It can be hard for those with dementia to get the care they need, and for family members to be able to provide it. In Australia, 30 per cent of beds in hospitals are now taken up by dementia patients or those experiencing age-related cognitive decline, who are unable to go home, posing huge problems for both our society and healthcare system.
Falls are a leading cause of injury, hospitalisation and functional decline in older adults — particularly in residential aged care settings where mobility limitations and frailty are common. In an Australian cohort of adults aged ≥65 years living in RACFs, nearly 60 % of residents experienced at least one fall annually, with many resulting in injury or hospitalisation.
Australia’s aged care reforms have repeatedly championed reablement and wellness as cornerstones of quality care. Does the sector actually have the funding model, workforce training, and allied health allocation required to deliver genuine reablement — or are we still operating in a “do care to” rather than “do care with” paradigm?
The policy intent is sound. However, there is an emerging and concerning trend: as the cost of domestic assistance and personal care continues to rise, referrals into restorative allied health services are decreasing…
Across Australia’s allied health sector, one of the most noticeable shifts in recent years has been the increasing number of clinicians opting to work as sole traders or independent contractors.
Australia’s Support at Home program was designed to modernise in-home aged care, simplify funding, and help older Australians live independently for longer. On the ground, however, a growing number of older Australians, carers and healthcare professionals are reporting the opposite.
The traditional model of formal education — its curriculum, delivery style, assessment methods — remains grounded in the industrial-era ideal of efficiency, uniformity and standardisation. That model has barely changed, even as population needs, workforce demands and our understanding of human development have transformed.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in 2022 there were 290,900 Australians diagnosed with autism (about 1.1% of the population), a 41.8% increase from 2018. The rise is most pronounced among younger people: autism prevalence is higher for people under 25 years (3.1%) than those over 25.
Physiotherapy has long held a respected place in Australia’s healthcare landscape: a university-trained allied health discipline focused on restoring movement, function, and quality of life. Yet over the past decade, questions are emerging about whether the profession has lost some of its shine — its distinct identity, professional status, and long-term career appeal.
