JCPSLP Vol 17 Supplement 1 2015_lores

From an allied health and clinical perspective

impact on the demands being made of us – in terms of new knowledge and skills (just think about all the new mobile technologies and applications contained in smart phone and iPad apps!), the introduction of telehealth, and how the Internet is changing how we learn and deliver services. It is also worth reflecting on how global factors such as the GFC have had an impact on our scope of practice. The SPA Ethics Board has many roles around promoting and managing the ethical standards of our profession – and one of these is to respond to complaints. We receive many complaints and while the greatest number of these are resolved with support and mediation, some of these progress to a formal investigation. Complaints are made by members of both the public and the profession. As a Board we have noticed an increasing number of complaints paralleled by an increase in the complexity of the issues raised.

Balancing clinical requirements and prioritisation with resource allocation “At a broad level this covers social justice concepts, in other words, considerations regarding the fair and equitable allocation of resources, rationing of services – also obliquely called prioritisation of services and the reality of dual servicing and agency policy about this. It causes real distress to clinicians who are not able to undertake good, let alone best, practice.” “This is a constant challenge for clinicians and includes limited capacity for clinical intervention, the non-servicing of some patient groups based on lack of resources, the ethics of prioritisation (what factors to consider in prioritisation).”

“There may be specific concerns in relation to waiting list management, for example, long waits for some patients which staff know will affect clinical outcomes in the long term and the issue of having to prioritise people who make complaints even if they are not the most urgent client.” “Inadequate staffing numbers to meet National Standards for service provision (e.g., Acute Stroke Guidelines), i.e., fairness and doing good.” “Resource allocation can so easily become focused on managing ‘numbers’ rather than ‘people’!” “The bigger issue is that there are simply not enough services available and rationing (which this effectively is) denies access and equity to a whole group of clients who are already compromised in their ability to advocate for themselves.”

Given the focus of the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology , members of the Ethics Board of SPA were asked to reflect on and respond to the question: “What do you consider to be emerging ethical and professional issues in your workplace?” The Ethics Board of SPA consists of senior and elected members of the profession, as well as community representatives and the Senior Advisor Professional Issues. We come from a wide range of geographical locations and workplace contexts. We work in direct clinical practice, in management positions, in research, in teaching, and in policy and funding development. The Board members’ responses to the question have been grouped together below into broad themes with reflections.

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JCPSLP Volume 17, Supplement 1, 2015 – Ethical practice in speech pathology

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au