Team Meeting Guide: for AHAs and AHPs

The role of an allied health assistant (AHA) is to support the work of allied health professionals (AHPs) by undertaking a range of less complex allied health tasks, both therapeutic and non-therapeutic.

For an AHA to be able to safely and effectively implement the tasks assigned to them, they need to work within clearly defined parameters set by the client’s AHP. The client’s goals and interventions should be captured and clearly outlined and this requires ongoing contact between AHP and AHA.

The Team Meeting is a handover session which allows the team to get to know each other, demonstrate therapy tasks, and ask follow-up questions.

1. The Team Meeting is usually a joint session where the AHA attends the AHP’s regular session with the client.
2. If this is not possible, the Team Meeting can be an online discussion between the AHP and AHA – it is optional for the client/client’s carer to be present.

Regardless of the format, the Team Meeting form must be completed. At the end of the team meeting, all team members should understand:

• What the AHA will work on independently with the client
• What the AHA will do if they have questions or concerns
• How often the AHA will update the AHP

The Team Meeting is centred around the Team Meeting form. Prior to the Team Meeting, we ask the client/client’s carer to provide background information.

During the Team Meeting, the AHP and AHA will complete and discuss the client’s therapy goals, therapy plan and risk assessment. The format and frequency of ongoing communication is also discussed. The AHP should decide how frequently ongoing communication is to occur.

Going forward, the AHA can refer to this document when they commence independent sessions with the client.

For examples of what will be discussed during the Team Meeting, please see the sample Team Meeting Forms:

• OT Team Meeting Example
• Physiotherapy Team Meeting Example
• Speech Pathology Team Meeting Example

The AHA will finalise the Team Meeting Form and share the completed version with the client/client’s carer, the AHP and Fora. This gives all parties the opportunity to make sure the new AHA has correctly understood the tasks they will be working on with the client.

After the Team Meeting, the AHA and the client/client’s primary carer can book independent sessions and begin working on the tasks identified for the AHA.

Regular communication is essential to the AHA working successfully within the team. During check-ins:

• the AHA can report back on how sessions are progressing
• the AHP can help the AHA troubleshoot any issues
• the AHP can make adjustments to the therapy plan
• the AHP can demonstrate new therapy activities to be implemented, the AHA can try these with the client and the AHP can provide feedback, and
• the AHP can share resources

The format and frequency of ongoing communication are discussed at the Team Meeting. We recommend the following arrangement.

• After each session that the AHA has with the client, with the client’s/client’s carer’s permission, the AHA should email their progress notes to the client’s AHP. The client/client’s carer will have access to these notes already via their Fora account.
• In addition to this, the AHA and AHP should have regular check-ins. This typically looks like joint sessions, where the AHA attends the AHP’s regular session with the client.
• The frequency of check-ins may vary over time. For example, they may begin more frequently while the AHA is learning new skills before reducing in frequency.
• If joint sessions are not suitable, check-ins may occur via video or phone call.

So what can ongoing communication look like in practice?

Example of ongoing communication in Speech Therapy

1. The AHA emails their progress notes to the Speech Pathologist and the client’s carer after every session. The AHA includes their questions within the email.
2. The Speech Pathologist emails back with feedback on the AHA’s progress notes and answers to the AHA’s questions.
3. For the first month, the AHA attends the Speech Pathologist’s regular, 1-hour session with the client every fortnight.
4. After this, the AHA attends the Speech Pathologist’s regular session every 4-6 weeks.

Example of ongoing communication in Occupational Therapy

1. The AHA emails their progress notes to the Occupational Therapist and the client’s carer after every session.
2. Every 4-6 weeks, the AHA attends the Occupational Therapist’s regular, 45-minute session with the client at school. They spend 15 mins discussing changes made to the therapy plan, and 30 minutes with the AHA observing the Occupational Therapist demonstrate new therapy activities.

Example of ongoing communication in Physiotherapy

1. The AHA emails their progress notes to the Physiotherapist and client after every session. The AHA includes their questions within the email.
2. The Physiotherapist emails back with feedback on the AHA’s progress notes and answers to the AHA’s questions.
3. Every 3-4 weeks, the Physiotherapist and the AHA have a video call.