PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE
Anita Hobson-Powell, Chief Allied Health Officer
Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Government
Filmed Sunshine Coast, Queensland | September 2024
Anita Hobson-Powell holds the position of Chief Allied Health Officer for the Australian Government within the Department of Health and Aged Care. With a background as an exercise physiologist and extensive experience leading allied health professional associations*, she has been entrusted with three main priorities. First, she aims to raise awareness about the significance of allied health professionals and their role in the healthcare system. This involves ensuring that decision makers and individuals engaging with health services understand the contributions of allied health professionals.
Second, Anita is focused on increasing engagement within the sector and fostering collaborative relationships with government entities and regulatory bodies. By enhancing recognition and value of allied health professions, she aims to strengthen their involvement in decision-making processes and policy development.
Finally, her strategy includes promoting the inclusion of allied health services in government policies, programs, and reforms. This entails advocating for the consideration of allied health from the inception of new programs or policies, ensuring their active involvement, and emphasising the value they bring to both professionals and consumers of healthcare services.
Anita spoke to Australian Health Journal on her role overseeing the development of Australia’s first national allied health workforce strategy. This initiative involves collaboration with state and territory governments and the sector to address recruitment, retention, and ensuring the availability of a skilled workforce to deliver healthcare services across various domains.
She speaks to the vital role of the allied health workforce in preventive healthcare strategies and improving the health and wellbeing of Australians.
Recognising the delivery across Australia Anita recognises the importance of addressing healthcare needs in rural and remote areas, highlighting the essential contributions of the allied health workforce in meeting these unique challenges.
*Editors note – Anita’s past roles
- Former Chair of National Alliance of Self Regulating Health Professions
- Former CEO of Exercise & Sports Science Australia
- Former Board Member Allied Health Professions Australia
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Professor Sabe Sabesan, is the Clinical Dean of the Townsville Regional Medical Training network incorporating the Townsville Hospital and Health Services and the Townsville Clinical School of the James Cook University and the director of the department of Medical oncology at the Townsville Cancer Centre, Townsville Hospital.
The Professor recently wrote, “Workforce wellness and engagement have become buzzwords in healthcare settings since there is an intimate relationship between staff wellbeing and performance of the healthcare system. Wellness initiatives such as wellness champions and wellness committees have been set up in response to emerging workforce mental health issues. These are largely reactive rather than being proactive in addressing or preventing the root cause of mental health issues.”
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Victorian social prescribing program underway
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– Deidre McGill, Executive General Manager, At Home Support, Bolton Clarke
– Ann Van Leerdam, Connect Local Community Connector, Bolton Clarke
– Dr Rajna Ogrin, Senior Research Fellow, Bolton Clarke Research Institute, Bolton Clarke - Dr Daniel Fineberg, Deputy Director General Medicine, Alfred Hospital, Victoria
