Allied Health
Allied health staff are health care professionals from several professional disciplines,
and many work in trans-disciplinary teams both in the hospital and
in the community. Allied health staff include:
- Dietitians
- Occupational therapists
- Physiotherapists
- Social workers and
- Speech language therapists
Allied health care practitioners are all directly involved with client care. They may:
- Provide treatment for an acutely sick patient in a hospital ward
- Provide rehabilitation for a child following a car crash or an adult who has
had a stroke
- Work with a child and their family/whanau to prepare them for surgery or
long term treatment for conditions such as cancer
- Work in partnership with clients (and their family/whanau) with chronic
illness and/or disability to improve functional independence and quality of life
- Work in partnership with clients and their family/whanau to identify
services required for independent living
- Facilitate relationships between the client, their family/whanau and/or
other members of the health care team, or community agencies.
Working in Clinical Practice Environments
Client care occurs in many settings: in a client's own home, a community
setting such as a pre-school, school or work place, at a marae or community clinic or in
a hospital inpatient or outpatient environment. Allied health staff are
represented in all clinical areas of Wairarapa Hospital.
Staff are working a wide range of areas including taking part in multi-disciplinary
teams set up to address the incidence and impact of high profile issues such as
heart disease, respiratory disease, healthy aging, and health
inequities in the Wairarapa.
Allied health is also part of the global workforce and we welcome
enquiries and practitioners from all round the globe. Currently we employ staff
from the United Kingdom, Canada, United States of America, Europe, South Africa,
Australia and Asia.
Registration Requirements
Dietitians, Occupational therapists, and Physiotherapists all require
registration with their relevant Professional Board in order to practice in New
Zealand. If you are overseas and interested in working in New Zealand, or have
not practised in your profession within the last three years, please access the
following links:
Student Placement Opportunities
Wairarapa DHB is strongly committed to teaching and the support of our undergraduate
students as our workforce of the future. Many of our disciplines are actively
involved at local universities providing specialist input into training. We
also have students of the following disciplines on both our hospital and
community-based sites (dietitians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists,
social workers and speech language therapists).