These models of care involve allied health professionals as the first point of contact for category 2 and 3 referrals that are likely to benefit from conservative intervention. In this setting, allied health professionals perform triage, assessment, conservative intervention and onward referral to other allied health services or medical specialists as required. Allied health led outpatient services assist health services to meet specialist outpatient targets, as well as to reduce specialist outpatient waiting times. Further information on these models is available. More information is available on the Allied Health's Workforce redesign and reform site.
In the 12 months from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017:
- 4,893 patients were discharged from participating allied health primary contact clinics
- 2,633 patients were removed from specialist outpatient waiting lists
- 1,653 of these patients were discharged without the need for medical review