If you're a physiotherapist or allied health practitioner running your own practice in Perth, you already know the pattern. The clinical work fills the day. The documentation follows you home — progress notes, referral letters, exercise program instructions, patient communication. All of it necessary. Most of it not requiring your clinical expertise to write.
Claude can handle the first draft of the administrative and communication work. The challenge for allied health professionals is the same as every other regulated profession: how do you use it without putting your registration or your patients at risk?
AHPRA has published clear guidance on exactly this question. This post works through it practically.
AHPRA's guidance "Meeting your professional obligations when using Artificial Intelligence in healthcare" (2024–25) applies to all registered health practitioners including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and other allied health professionals. It stresses five principles: accountability, understanding of AI tools, transparency with patients, informed consent, and compliance with privacy, ethical and legal obligations. Generative AI tools like Claude are framed as general-purpose, non-medical-device tools that require strong practitioner oversight.
The five AHPRA principles applied to Claude
AHPRA doesn't ban AI — it requires practitioners to use it responsibly. Here's what each principle means in practice:
- Accountability: You remain responsible for every clinical note, referral letter, or patient communication that Claude helps draft. Review and edit everything before it becomes part of the record
- Understanding: Know what Claude can and can't do. It drafts, summarises, and structures — it does not assess, diagnose, or make clinical decisions
- Transparency: Be prepared to tell patients that AI tools assist with documentation. Build this into your practice information or consent forms
- Informed consent: Patients should understand if their de-identified information is being processed by an AI tool
- Privacy and ethics: Never enter identifiable patient information into public AI tools. De-identify first — always
Practical Claude workflows for Perth allied health practitioners
| Task | How to use Claude | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Progress note drafting | After a session, type de-identified bullet points (presenting complaint, treatment applied, response, plan) — ask Claude to structure them into a SOAP-format progress note | 🟡 Medium | Remove patient name and DOB — use "patient" or initials. Review carefully before saving to records |
| Referral letter drafting | "Draft a referral letter to a [specialist type] for a patient with [de-identified condition and history]. Cover: reason for referral, relevant history, treatment to date, specific questions for the specialist" | 🟡 Medium | De-identify — add patient name, DOB and GP details yourself after reviewing the draft |
| Home exercise program instructions | "Write plain English instructions for a patient to perform [exercise name] at home. Include: how to do it, sets and reps, what to feel, what to stop for" | 🟢 Low | No patient data needed — generic exercise instructions only. Review for clinical accuracy |
| Patient education handouts | "Write a plain English patient handout explaining [condition] — what it is, common causes, what to expect, and general self-management tips" | 🟢 Low | No patient data needed — review for clinical accuracy before distributing |
| Discharge summary drafting | Provide de-identified treatment summary bullet points — ask Claude to structure into a professional discharge summary for GP or patient records | 🟡 Medium | De-identify before entering — review and sign before filing |
| Patient follow-up emails | "Draft a follow-up email to a patient after their [session type]. Check in on how they're progressing, remind them of their home program, and invite them to contact us with questions" | 🟢 Low | No patient data needed — personalise name and specific instructions yourself |
| CPD reflection notes | "I completed a [CPD course] on [topic]. Help me write a 200-word CPD reflection covering key learnings and how I'll apply them in practice" | 🟢 Low | No patient data involved — quick admin win |
The de-identification rule for health practitioners
AHPRA is specific about privacy. Before entering any patient information into Claude, remove everything that could identify the individual:
- Name and date of birth
- Medicare number, health fund details, or file numbers
- Specific location details that could identify a patient in a small community
- Employer name or workplace details
- Any combination of details that together could identify the patient
Time savings Perth allied health practitioners can expect
| Task | Traditional time | With Claude | Time saved |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOAP progress note (post-session) | 10–15 min | 3–5 min | ~10 min per patient |
| Referral letter to specialist | 20–30 min | 5–8 min | ~20 min |
| Home exercise program instructions | 15–20 min | 3–5 min | ~15 min |
| Patient education handout | 30–45 min | 5–8 min | ~35 min |
| Discharge summary | 20–30 min | 5–8 min | ~20 min |
For a practitioner seeing 8–10 patients a day, saving 10 minutes per progress note alone adds up to 80–100 minutes recovered daily. That's documentation that no longer follows you home.
A sample prompt Perth physios can use today
"You are a clinical documentation assistant for a physiotherapy practice. Structure the following session notes into a professional SOAP-format progress note. Use formal clinical language. Here are the session bullet points: [paste de-identified notes]. Do not add clinical assumptions — only structure what is provided. Flag any gaps where I should add more detail."
The "flag any gaps" instruction is important — it prompts Claude to highlight where your documentation might be incomplete, which protects you clinically and medico-legally.
Frequently asked questions — Claude AI for Perth allied health
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