Access to Allied Health Services

Project summary:

During 2021 and 2022, Latrobe Health Assembly engaged Ninety Mile Consulting to explore and identify challenges, opportunities and potential initiatives relating to early childhood learning and development across the Latrobe Valley. Many children living in the Latrobe Valley struggle to get support for their health issues because they are unable to easily access existing early childhood development service providers, including speech pathologists, occupational therapists, dieticians, and counsellors.

Clear identification of key early childhood allied health services in the Latrobe Valley was required and this insight was gained through a comprehensive service map of the Latrobe Valley. The service map demonstrates the breadth and availability of services in the region and allowed a greater understanding of how services are distributed and accessed by the community, and identified where there were service gaps.

Key Findings:

• There was a total of 104 allied health services being provided within the Latrobe Valley, delivered by 78 different allied health professionals from 36 allied health service provider businesses.
• The majority of services are clustered in Traralgon.
• Waiting lists are long, often in the order of years, and in some cases, services have closed their books to new referrals.
• Practitioners working in the public health system also report difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified and skilled staff.
• From the research, 11 recommendations were produced under the topic areas of:
  • Barriers to overcome (access, cost, and staff- retention)
  • Opportunities with professions
  • Opportunities with partners (workforce training and professional development)
  • Improving access to existing services (improving service model delivers, referral pathways and case-management)