The Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) is calling on candidates in the upcoming 2024 Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Election to prioritise physiotherapy as a critical part of healthcare reform. With almost half of all adults in the ACT (48.7 per cent) living with chronic conditions, such as back pain and arthritis∗, timely access to physiotherapy can significantly reduce the burden on hospitals and improve the health outcomes of individuals and communities.

Physiotherapy plays a vital role in reducing hospital admissions and improving patient outcomes. It is a highly cost-effective treatment option, with strong evidence supporting its benefits in preventing and managing conditions across musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory, and neurological domains. 

The APA’s newly released election statement urges candidates to recognise the value physiotherapy offers in terms of both health outcomes and economic savings.

The APA has outlined four key priorities that will improve healthcare for ACT residents and alleviate pressure on the health system:

1. Invest in non-operative pathways: Use physiotherapy to manage chronic conditions such as back pain and arthritis, keeping patients out of hospitals and reducing the need for costly surgeries.
2. Optimise physiotherapy expertise at the hospital-community interface: Support physiotherapists to manage care transitions and improve outcomes for patients moving between hospital and community care.
3. Develop a sustainable physiotherapy workforce: Create training incentives and employment opportunities to ensure the ACT has a sufficient, well-trained physiotherapy workforce.
4. Expand advanced practice physiotherapy roles: Embed advanced practice physiotherapists in primary care settings to improve access to early diagnosis and treatment, reducing wait times and hospitalisations.

The APA’s proposed reforms offer a clear path forward for the incoming ACT Government. APA ACT Branch President Dominic Furphy said that physiotherapists are essential in achieving sustainable healthcare reform. 

‘We haven’t reached the full potential of our healthcare system. The government can invest in physiotherapy to see real improvements in public health, reduce long wait times for treatment, and alleviate the burden on hospitals,’ Mr Furphy said.

‘Initiatives such as the nurse-led walk-in clinics and implementation of advanced practice physiotherapy clearly demonstrate the ACT’s leadership in healthcare reform and we must continue to build on this to remain a leader in this space,’ he said.

Physiotherapists have the skills and knowledge to embed health promotion and prevention activities into routine care. The cost-effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions is proven in the literature and through the cost-benefit analysis (Nous Group 2020), which builds a robust picture of the high-level impacts and value that physiotherapy provides to the healthcare sector.

The full election statement can be found on the APA’s website. 

References

Australian Physiotherapy Association (2024). Physiotherapy: high-value care for all in the Australian Capital Territory. Available at https://australian.physio/sites/default/files/submission-2024-09/APA_statement_2024_ACT_Election_Physiotherapy_high-value_care_for_all%20in_ACT.pdf