Govt should pay for prac placements for all health students

The nation’s allied health deans say its ‘unfair’ that physiotherapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy and psychology students still need to pay for their university prac placements while teaching and nursing students are free.

Griffith University physiotherapy student Jake Philpott who is on placement at Buderim Private Hospital. Picture: Lachie Millard

Australia’s allied health deans are demanding the federal government pay physiotherapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy and psychology students for university placements, to mirror taxpayer support for teaching and nursing students.

The Australian Council of Deans of Health Sciences said in a statement that “placement poverty” exacerbated the acute shortage of allied health professionals, which was set to increase massively over the next decade.

These allied health professionals reduced pressure on the health system through preventive measures, the deans said.

The federal government recently announced the Commonwealth Prac Payment scheme, which offers $319.50 per week to students undertaking placements while studying teaching, nursing, midwifery or social work. The government payments are means-tested to support those who need it most.

“The Australian Council of Deans of Health Sciences welcomes the government’s recent announcement of funding to address placement poverty for low socio-economic status students studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social worker. However, this announcement ignores the placement poverty experienced by students studying clinical allied health sciences, such as physiotherapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy, podiatry, and psychology,” the statement reads.

“There are already acute shortages of these professionals, who form a crucial part of the ­holistic team needed to ensure patient health and wellbeing.”

ACDHS chair Terry Haines said the council was calling on the government to extend the same support to allied health ­students.

“For these students, the ­commonwealth announcement is bitterly disappointing; they will be on mandatory practical placements alongside their peers in nursing, midwifery and social work and will continue to experience all of the challenges associated with placement poverty,” Professor Haines said.

He said allied health professionals can earn high salaries once qualified, but “future earning potential does not protect a student from placement poverty in the here and now”.

He said the latest government initiative would mostly attract students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and funnel them into careers with “lower future earning potential”, which could inadvertently entrench disadvantage.

Professor Haines said “placement poverty is real” and affects all students studying to become health professionals. He said there was a “need to promote entry of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds into all health professional courses, and to support their ­successful completion”.

“Do we not also want students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to have the support needed to become physiotherapists, speech pathologists, and occupational therapists, or should these professions just be left to those with financial means?” he said.