Variation in inpatient allied health service provision in Australian and New Zealand hospitals

Jepson, Megan; Sarkies, Mitchell; Haines, Terry; Morris, Meg; Carey, Leeanne; Taylor, Nicholas; Holland, Anne; Bardoel, Anne; Williams, Cylie; O’Brien, Lisa; Skinner, Elizabeth H; Philip, Kathleen; Bowles, Kelly‐Ann

doi:10.26181/30908126.v1

Variation in inpatient allied health service provision in Australian and New Zealand hospitals

https://doi.org/10.26181/30908126

journal contribution

posted on 2025-12-18, 03:06 authored by Megan Jepson, Mitchell Sarkies, Terry Haines, Meg MorrisMeg Morris, Leeanne CareyLeeanne Carey, Nicholas TaylorNicholas Taylor, Anne Holland, Anne Bardoel, Cylie Williams, Lisa O’Brien, Elizabeth H Skinner, Kathleen Philip, Kelly‐Ann Bowles

Objective: To describe the variability of allied health services on weekends, relative to weekdays, throughout Australian and New Zealand hospitals. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional observational study embedded within a cluster randomised control trial. Allied health managers provided administrative data relating to allied health service events. Results: In one month, there were a total of 243 549 allied health service events recorded from 91 sampled hospitals. The mean difference between weekday and weekend allied health service events (daily, per ward) for physiotherapy was 6.52 (95% CI 5.65 to 7.40), acute wards 12.03 (95% CI 10.25 to 13.82) and for metropolitan hospitals 14.47 (95% CI 12.22 to 16.73), revealing more allied health service events of longer duration on weekdays compared to weekends. Conclusions: This research is the first of its kind to describe variation in allied health service provision and potential research to practice gaps across weekday and weekend days in various inpatient settings.

Funding

This study is funded by a partnership grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia (APP1114210), and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.

History

Publication Date

2022-03-01

Journal

Australasian Journal on Ageing

Volume

41

Issue

1

Article Number

12988

Pagination

11p. (p. 70-80)

Publisher

Wiley

ISSN

1440-6381

Rights Statement

© 2021 AJA Inc. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Jepson M, et al (2022). Variation in inpatient allied health service provision in Australian and New Zealand hospitals. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 41(1), 70-80, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1111/ajag.12988. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.