Workforce Planning and Talent Development have undertaken projects in alignment with strategies in the Health Professionals Workforce Plan 2012-2022 including:

  • planning for small but critical workforces
  • work mapping to identify and forecast health service delivery requirements towards 2030
  • considering workforce implications of changing models of care and build multi-faceted and multi-owned solutions to workforce development.

Allied health workforce macro trends

The Allied Health Workforce Macro Trends Report brings together the findings of all 18 horizon scanning and scenario generation projects and to distil these findings into macro trends for the allied health workforce of NSW Health. The report identifies potential future opportunities and priorities for both local and state-level.

Allied health graduate workforce pipeline

The Allied Health Graduate Pipeline Report highlights consistent themes and opportunities to improve the NSW Health Allied Health graduate pipeline which includes the need for a positive student pre-employment and graduate employment experience, as well as addressing key 'pressures' and 'influencers' identified in the Allied Health Professional journey. 

Allied health COVID-19 workforce innovations

The Allied Health COVID-19 Workforce Innovations Reports bring together an evaluation of the NSW Allied Health workforce models that were implemented as part of the pandemic response, many of which remain in place today as a result of their demonstrated value in delivering positive outcomes, including improved patient flow, reduced hospital admissions and positive patient experience.  

Small but critical workforces

Allied Health Workforce team

The Health Professionals Workforce plan identifies a number of small but critical workforces that require attention in order to meet the needs of a changing health care service in NSW. Small but critical workforces are defined as "Workforces which contribute critical and essential elements of a comprehensive health service, and are currently experiencing threats to meet systems needs now and into the future".

For further information on projects completed under the small but critical workforce strategy, visit:

Allied health workforce mapping projects

Allied Health Workforce team

NSW Health is undertaking workforce planning projects for allied health in NSW to identify the workforce requirements to 2030, which aligns with action 7.8 of the Health Professionals Workforce Plan 2012-2022. Phase one of these projects involves horizon scanning to identify the roles of allied health professions, challenges and drivers that are expected to influence the role of these workforces in the future. Phase 2 of these projects involves scenario generation that will be used to drive the workforce modelling:

​Allied health assistant workforce

NSW Health commissioned a horizons scanning and scenario generation project for the Allied Health Assistant (AHA) workforce. Through consultation with key stakeholders a range of views showed the critical risks and opportunities facing the AHA workforce. The consultation helped build valuable insights and consensus to inform future workforce planning.

The Allied Health Assistant Horizons Scanning and Scenario Generation Report identified 14 strategic opportunities that are supported and aligned to four overarching themes – Enablers, Enhancements, Workforce, and Education to assist with strengthening this workforce.  Within the report – each strategic opportunity is supported by recommendations that can be considered for local customisation and implementation.


Current as at: Wednesday 29 November 2023