Reforms needed to meet health workforce pressures

Changes are needed if Australia’s health workforce is to become more efficient and effective, according to a research report released by the Productivity Commission.

In releasing the report, Commissioner Mike Woods said: ‘Lasting gains can only be achieved if the current fragmented delivery of services is overcome and if professional and regulatory rigidities and other barriers to innovation are removed’.

‘Workforce shortages and the increasing demands of an ageing community are placing mounting pressures on Australia’s health care system. Improving preventative health care, increasing the number of training places and retaining more of those currently employed are all important strategies, but they don’t go far enough,’ Mr Woods said.

The Commission recommends an integrated set of national actions which will result in a more sustainable and responsive health workforce. The proposed workforce arrangements are designed to:

• drive reform to scopes of practice, and job design more broadly, while maintaining safety and quality;
• deliver a more coordinated and responsive education and training regime for health workers;
• accredit the courses and institutions and register health professionals in nationally consolidated and coherent frameworks; and;
• provide the financial incentives to support access to safe and high quality care in a manner that promotes innovation in health workplaces.

Mr Woods said: ‘The Commission’s proposals will help ensure that safe, quality care is delivered by well trained health workers with the right skills and in the most cost-effective fashion. Demand for health care is growing and our responses need to be financially sustainable. The proposals will benefit all Australians, including those living in outer metropolitan, rural and remote areas, and others with special needs where workforce shortages are particularly evident.’

The Council of Australian Governments is expected to consider the Commission’s report, along with a review of other health care issues by its Senior Officials, in the early part of this year.