HLT33021 Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance

HLT33021 Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance

Institute of Allied Health is a trading name for the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors Pty Ltd and qualifications are awarded by AIPC (RTO Provider Number 0670).

This Cert III in Allied Health Assistance is delivered online. You can study your Certificate III on a full-time, part-time or self-paced basis. Indicatively, a full-time study of this online allied health assistance course will take approximately 12 months.

This course has a work placement component of 120 hours.

To achieve this allied health assistance qualification, students are required to complete 120 hours of compulsory practical placement in a workplace where health services are delivered by allied health professionals.

You can choose your work placement location, but it needs Institute approval based on course requirements. We can help you find a suitable workplace if you are struggling to locate one.

To obtain entry to this allied health assistance course, you need to demonstrate completion of at least Year 10 (or equivalent) and be at least 16 years of age. 

This course is not available to international students. 

Discounted upfront payments $2490 (normally $3115- save 20%)

Fortnightly payments $129/fortnight x 26 payments

An allied health assistant supports qualified allied health professionals to deliver treatment and therapy to their patients. You’ll prepare equipment for sessions, help patients through exercises the therapist has prescribed, record how each patient responds and assist with personal care where a patient needs it. Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, speech pathologists and podiatrists all work with assistants who carry out programs under their supervision.

The Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance is a nationally recognised entry-level qualification for people who want to support allied health professionals at work. You’ll study infection prevention and control, medical terminology, communicating in health settings and how to assist with an allied health program. We include 120 hours of compulsory work placement, so you learn the job in a workplace where allied health professionals deliver services.

You’ll complete 12 units covering the clinical, communication and safety skills an allied health assistant uses daily. We teach you to:

• Assist an allied health professional to deliver a program to their patients

• Recognise how a health condition affects a patient undertaking therapy or intervention

• Apply standard and transmission-based precautions for infection prevention and control

• Interpret and apply medical terminology when you read instructions and carry out tasks

• Empower the people you support to make their own decisions

• Respond effectively to behaviours of concern

• Work legally and ethically within your job role

• Promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety

You’ll also need to attain an HLTAID011 Provide First Aid through an external training organisation, then submit your certification for a credit transfer.

The Certificate III teaches you to assist any allied health professional, while the Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance lets you specialise in one discipline. A physiotherapy assistant who holds the Certificate IV can deliver a prescribed exercise program independently and adjust it as the patient progresses, reporting back to the physiotherapist. Occupational therapy and rehabilitation are the other common specialisations. Your Certificate III covers the ground you need before you choose which direction to take.

Allied health assistant jobs in Australia advertise average annual salaries between $65,000 and $75,000*. Each platform below gathers its numbers differently, which is why they don’t all agree on the average or median salary. Use the following sources to get an idea of how much you could make as an allied health assistant:

• SEEK: This website draws its figures from the salary information employers include when they advertise a vacancy. Allied health assistant roles advertise between $65,000 and $75,000* a year on this measure. Keep in mind that employers tend to quote what they’d pay someone who already has experience, so advertised figures are generally above what a new graduate would start on.

• Glassdoor: Glassdoor models a market rate from pay that employees submit anonymously. Allied health assistants report an average base salary of approximately $61,000** a year, within a range of approximately $55,000 to $65,000**. This estimate draws on 109 submissions from allied health assistants working in Australia. 

• Indeed: Indeed averages salaries that workers report alongside the pay listed in job postings on its platform. Health assistants average $69,238* a year across 384 reported salaries. Indeed groups these positions under the broader health assistant title, so the figure covers roles beyond allied health specifically.

• PayScale: This figure comes from a skill listing instead of a job title, so it covers everyone who names allied health among their skills. That group averages $86,000* a year in base salary. Qualified therapists and other degree-holding professionals fall within it too, which is why the average is above assistant-level pay.

*These figures are indicative ranges only. We accessed SEEK, Glassdoor, Indeed and PayScale in August 2026. Each source updates its data regularly, so check the original pages for current figures. Your own earnings will vary with your experience, your location, your employer and the hours you work.

**Glassdoor publishes these figures as hourly rates. We multiplied its average rate of $31 an hour and its range of $28 to $33 an hour by 38 hours a week over 52 weeks, then rounded to the nearest thousand, so you can compare them against the annual figures from the other sources. Many allied health assistants work part-time or casual shifts, so your own annual earnings will depend on the hours you pick up.

The qualification can prepare you for working under the supervision of therapists and other allied health professionals. Hospitals, aged care facilities, disability services, community health centres and private allied health clinics all employ assistants at this level. Assistants who want to specialise in a particular therapy often continue into the Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance.

Yes. We deliver all the theory online, so you can study full-time, part-time or at your own pace and finish in around 12 months. Your assessor needs to watch you work with patients in person, so you’ll complete around 120 hours of work placement in a hospital, aged care facility, community health centre or private allied health clinic. You choose your own placement location, subject to our approval against the course requirements.