14 October 2024

As Medical Radiation Practitioners (MRPs), best practice involves working together and communicating effectively with other health practitioners to provide multidisciplinary, wrap-around care.

In the instance of allied health in particular, MRPs work alongside social workers, physiotherapists, medical imaging assistants, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, Aboriginal health workers, pharmacists, music therapists, child life therapists, play therapists, psychologists, prosthetiscs and orthotists, cardiac physiologists, and more.

The 14th of October is International Allied Health Professions Day. This year’s theme is ‘Stronger Together’, with Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA) inviting Australia to celebrate allied health professionals as the second largest health workforce in Australia and a major provider of services across the health, disability, and aged care sectors.

In their Allied Health Professionals Day statement, AHPA has called on the government to “stop talking about multidisciplinary team care and bring it to fruition with appropriate funding and implementation planning.” ASMIRT is a member of AHPA, and supports AHPA’s call for increased funding while acknowledging that positive steps are already being taken.

Areas of further investment include:

• Improving funding for clinical education across allied health
• Including Medical Radiation Students (and other allied health students) in financial support schemes for practical placements. ASMIRT wrote to the federal government on this topic earlier this year.
• Health and Wellbeing funding for MRPs (and other allied health professionals), who are overworked, stressed and frequently facing burnout.