Summary
The Ministry has published the revised NSW Health Professionals Workforce Plan 2012–2022 (‘the Plan’) which aims to address the long-term projected workforce needs of NSW Health. The Plan provides the policy objectives, and local and collaborative activities – working with Local Health Districts, Pillar agencies, the Commonwealth, Health Workforce Australia, specialty medical colleges and universities – to ensure that NSW trains, recruits and retains appropriate numbers of doctors, nurses and midwives and allied health professionals in the appropriate locations.
The cornerstone of the framework is Stabilising the Foundations:
- multi faceted and multi-owned solutions
- integrated and comprehensive workforce planning.
On this cornerstone rests the Building Blocks for the health professional workforce- providing the culture and working environment in the health system:
- provide effective working arrangements
- develop a collaborative health system
- support local decision making
- develop effective health professional managers and leaders.
The foundations and building blocks provide the platform to realise the vision Right People, Right Skills, Right Place:
- recognise the value of generalist and specialist skills
- grow and support a skilled workforce
- effective use of our health care workforce .
The Plan is being implemented against a complex background of factors such as the shift in health needs move from acute to chronic care settings, the greater emphasis on the need for effective primary and preventative health care, the geographic distribution of the populations of NSW, the affordability of health care and inequities of health outcomes, such as those that occur in Aboriginal and rural and remote communities.
Initiatives designed to meet the strategic goals of the Plan are developed for 1-2 years, 2-5 years and 5-10 years.
The implementation of the plan is evaluated by the NSW Ministry of Health.