Allied, scientific and complementary health professionals: a new model for Australian allied health

There is no standard or agreed definition of "allied health" nationally or internationally. This paper reviews existing definitions of allied health, and considers aspects of allied health services and service delivery in order to produce a new model of allied health that will be flexible in a changing health service delivery workforce. We propose a comprehensive model of allied, scientific and complementary (ASC) health professionals. This model recognises tasks, training, organisation, health sectors and professional regulation. It incorporates traditional and new services which are congruent with allied health foci, allegiances, responsibilities and directions. Use of this model will allow individual organisations to describe their ASC health workforce, and plan for recruitment, staff training and remuneration.