Miss Brittany Mchugh1, Miss Jasmine Fox1
1Queensland Health, Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service, Australia
Biography:
Brittany an occupational therapist and Jasmine a physiotherapist with both almost ten years' experience working as generalists within the Central Queensland district. Both born and raised locally with a passion for providing Great Care to Central Queenslanders.
Abstract:
Background:
Healthcare demand is threatened by an aging population and a higher prevalence of chronic conditions not matched by the composition and distribution of health professionals. The primary purpose of this research was to explore the benefit of a professional delegated allied health assistant (AHA) workforce on timely patient access following an acute hospital presentation.
Method:
A cross-sectional extraction of hospital electronic data between 1 March-31 December 2024 was mined for the CQHHS Rapid Access Community Allied Health Service. A total of 251 outpatient journeys were analysed utilising three-month blocks. Data was compared between a physiotherapy (PT) only service and a physiotherapy delegated AHA model (PTA). Measures included patient access, direct and indirect occasions of service (OOS), wait-times, and average length of stay.
Results:
Preliminary Chi-Square test results highlight a significant (p<0.05) 27% reduction in expected patients for PT and concurrent 37% increase for PTA. PT direct occasions of service results transitioned to a 28% decline and 42% PTA increase. Indirect OOS PT results report a 14% decline and 66% PTA increase. Results also show changes in triage wait times 4.75 to 0.89 days; Home visit wait times 5.46 to 3.43 days; and ALOS 36.14 to 14.9 days.
Conclusion:
Embedding AHA’s in this model improves access to community allied health service delivery and patient care. This AHA model enhanced service capacity and efficiency, reducing wait times and optimising efficiency for PT’s. These findings underscore opportunities for workforce redesign to address healthcare delivery challenges and improve patient outcomes in community settings.