Business View Oceania | April/May 2022

61 62 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 AUSTRAL I AN PHYS IOTHERAPY ASSOC I AT ION physical wellbeing. It’s not just about investing more money, it’s about investing time, energy, and research to get it right. There are some great innovative models of care out there that reduce the costs of the health sector for patients and funders. We believe that taking advantage of those systems is the only way true, positive reform and development of our system in Australia is going to happen.” In 2021, the APA decided to split their Chair and President roles to highlight their different skill sets and allow better focus on separate areas of the organisation’s governance. Mr. Willis says, “As President, I look after external stakeholders, media, and government relations- essentially all the outfacing components of governance. Our current Chair, Jenny Aiken, looks at our internal governance, running board meetings, interactions with our staff group, and the operational side of what we do. This shift has been really effective and allows us to identify more strongly with our roles.” Moving forward, the APA hopes to see significant reform in the physiotherapy industry, and indeed throughout the wider healthcare sector, to support patients as they navigate their health and wellbeing. The association will promote the introduction and implementation of integrated health systems for aged care, veteran, Indigenous, and NDIS patients in particular, which will allow a fuller scope of physiotherapy practice to be made available to them. The APA is confident that their role in the future will continue to help physios, their staff, and their patients get the most out of life. Mr. Willis comments on the importance of ongoing reform efforts for the physiotherapy sector, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID was obviously a huge challenge for us, but it has also presented an opportunity for reform in the health sector. We were really accentuated during lockdown as an essential service for patients of all kinds, and the barriers facing our physios and associated healthcare workers were made clearer to our government. Despite improvement, we are still seeing evidence that reform needs to be taken to the next level. In order to inspire, that we need to continue highlighting physiotherapy as an efficient, economical, and effective service for our patients and funders. We would like to break down those barriers to see physios represented as the foundational point of care for our patients, working alongside their general practitioners, specialists, mental health providers, etcetera, to present an integrated service that will improve their quality of life in all health-related areas.” He continues, “There are also a lot of barriers for patients and their general practitioners in areas such as the referral process, particularly for specialist and mental health appointments. Our specialists and our GP’s need to be able to talk to each other easier, and patients need be able to access integrated healthcare systems that take a holistic approach to their mental and