What is Allied Health?

You won’t be surprised to learn that Allied health relates to your health. In fact, Allied Health is a broad concept that covers the following fields:

• Delivery of health services
• Identifying and evaluating diseases
• Preventing disease
• Nutritional services
• Health system management
• Rehabilitation

In other words, if someone is a health professional, regardless of their field of expertise, they are part of the allied health initiative. In short, if you have any connection to health, other than directly as medical or nursing staff, you’ll be considered part of allied health.

The Role Of Allied Health

Allied health professionals exist to help people make full recoveries when possible and to help rehabilitate people into society. In other words, dentists, chiropractors, speech therapists, nutritional experts, physical and occupational therapists, and even speech-language professionals can all be considered part of allied health.

The exact percentage of healthcare that falls under allied health changes from country to country. But, an average of 50-60% of the healthcare workforce is reasonable.

Their role is comparatively simple to define yet complex to deliver.

An allied health professional is seeking to improve the quality of life of those they look after. This can be by offering them an opportunity to be themselves in a safe space or by offering therapy to help them deal with issues and function in society. They offer the support and facilities you need to get back on your feet after an injury, illness, or if you suffer from a disability of any sort.

Are Allied Health Members Qualified?

Yes. Allied health professionals are still highly qualified in their respective fields. The main point of this classification is to give the roles of non-medical workers definition. For many patients, allied health workers offer much more than a doctor can. They assist with the recovery process which is longer and can be challenging.

It means allied health professionals tend to be more invested in their patients. They will get to know them better and be able to understand the ups and downs of recovery or living with a disease/disability.

Examples of Allied Health In Action

There are approximately 4.4 million Australians with disabilities and many of them need help to have a normal life. Companies such as this NDIS provider Sydney offer an array of services to help make this possible for people with disabilities, regardless of what the disability is.

That means offering design services to improve their living space according to their condition. It also means helping with employment, education, domestic support, and even giving a safe environment to play and socially interact with others.

The support businesses like this offer helps people to have a good quality of life and feel like they matter. That’s an invaluable service.

Final Thoughts

Allied health professionals are everywhere and you’ve probably already benefitted from their service without even knowing about it. They are a dedicated group of professionals that help to ensure you make the best possible recovery and lessons learned are shared to help professionals across the industry, effectively improving the quality of care that can be offered.