The Australian Health Ministers’ Conference (AHMC) has commissioned Health Workforce Australia (HWA) to develop a National Training Plan (NTP) for Doctors, Nurses and Midwives to provide the estimated numbers of professional entry, postgraduate and specialist trainees that will be required between 2012 and 2025.
The development of the NTP is a significant first step towards the continual improvement of health workforce planning in Australia and the establishment of a common framework for nationwide discussions on future workforce numbers.
On Thursday 9th June PA Policy Advisor Ray Bange participated in an HWA Workshop session held in Brisbane to explore the issue of Health Professionals in Training.
The questions addressed by the workshop included:
- How best to attract and retain health professionals to areas of shortage, in particular to areas of practice that are less “popular” such as mental health care?
- How to address the regional / rural distribution issues?
- What is the role of overseas trained health professionals in providing services to the community?
- What issues are anticipated resulting from an intention for Australia to become increasingly self-sufficient and is this achievable?
- Australia currently provides a significant amount of undergraduate training for international students. What are the benefits of retaining more of these graduates in the Australian health care system?
- What impact would changing the number of generalists or hospitalists have on the projected workforce requirements for the specialist medical workforce? What roles do these doctors play?
HWA will release an interim report for public comment in August 2011 including baseline and agreed alternative scenario projections. The final report with workforce projections and strategies will be delivered to AHMC by the end of 2011.
The 2011 National Training Plan will not provide estimates for any other professional group, including allied health professions. As the HWA program of innovation and reform progresses and additional national workforce data become available, opportunities to broaden and refine the national training estimates will be explored.
More details about the national Training Plan project is available here: Training Plan Project
