Allied Health is the umbrella term used for all healthcare services that do not fall under medical or nursing professions. It involves qualified health practitioners with specialised expertise in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a range of health conditions and diseases.
New Zealand's allied health workforce is currently regulated in two ways. One is through national regulation under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCA Act) and the other is through self-regulation via a professional body. There are over 50 professions covered by various professional bodies.
Allied health professionals regulated under the HPCA Act are:
- Chiropractic
- Dental therapy/oral health therapy
- Dietetics
- Medical Laboratory Science/Anaesthetic Technology
- Occupational Therapy
- Optometry
- Osteopathy
- Paramedicine
- Pharmacy
- Physiotherapy
- Podiatry
- Psychology
- Psychotherapy
Allied health professionals regulated by their professional body are*:
- Art therapist
- Athletic trainer
- Audiologist
- Cardiovascular technologist
- Clinical laboratory scientist
- Clinical neurophysiology
- Clinical Physiologist Renal
- Communicative Disorders Assistant
- Electrocardiogram technician
- Exercise physiologist
- Genetic Counsellor
- Massage therapist
- Medical assistant
- Medical Imaging Technician
- Medical radiation scientist
- Music therapist
- Nutritionist
- Orthoptist
- Orthotist / prosthetist
- Perfusionist
- Phlebotomist
- Play therapist
- Public health epidemiologist
- Radiographer
- Radiation therapist
- Rehabilitation Technician
- Rehabilitation counsellor
- Social workers
- Sonographer / radiographers
- Speech Language Therapist
- Sterile processing technician
- Surgical technologist
* this is a non-exhaustive list of known professionals