ACT Health Workforce Strategy

The ACT is investing in services and health infrastructure to grow the ACT workforce to meet the increasing healthcare needs of our region.

About the workforce

The ACT health workforce provides health services with transitions of care across public, private and non-government sectors, within the ACT and to surrounding NSW regions.

Our health workforce includes those registered by:

• the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra)
• self-regulated and unregulated
• technical and non-clinical staff
• students and care workers

ACT Health Workforce Strategy 2023-2032

The ACT Health Workforce Strategy 2023-2032 sets out the territory wide approach to building a sustainable health workforce. It supports the territory and surrounding regions to predict and respond to workforce challenges.

The strategy identifies eight priority areas to target specific workforce needs including:

• creating exciting career paths and investing in data intelligence
• ensuring we provide a culturally safe environment for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce.

These priorities help us deliver on our ambition to be the most capable health workforce in Australia.

Strategy implementation

The strategy will be implemented over 10 years.

Action plans will be developed with key stakeholders including:

• public and private health organisations
• education providers
• the non-government sector.

The plans will include the strategic objectives and actions that will be delivered.

The strategy will support national, organisational and profession-specific workforce plans and frameworks. It will build a health workforce that meets the needs of Canberra and the surrounding regions.

Completed actions

The following early actions from the strategy have been completed:

• 6. Commit to improving publicly available health workforce data. Go to Data, statistics and surveys.
• 18. Map migration pathways for international recruitment - A high-level map on the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa subclass 494 can be found in the Overview of employer sponsored visas. The Australian Government is currently reviewing Australia's migration system, and the regulatory settings relating to health practitioner registration and qualification recognition for overseas trained health professionals and international students who have studied in Australia. This will impact the migration pathways for international recruitment.
• 19. Convene a student round table or forum in 2023 - Forum was held on 26 April 2023. Go to ACT Health Workforce Strategy: Student Round Table Forum for a summary of the forum.

Advocating for the ACT health workforce

The sustainability of the health workforce is a priority of states and territories across Australia. A national Health Workforce Taskforce has been established to consider health workforce issues and progress priorities agreed at the Health Chief Executives Forum and the Health Ministers’ Meeting, which is currently chaired by Ms Rachel Stephen-Smith MLA, Minister for Health, ACT.

The Health Workforce Taskforce is currently prioritising migration, workforce intelligence, and registration and assessment. The ACT is an active participant to represent the Territory’s concerns, influence the national strategic direction and advocate for reform.

Territory-wide Health Workforce Planning Group

A new governance committee, the Territory-wide Health Workforce Planning Group, has been established to focus on the sustainability of health workforce. It will consider the health workforce employed in all sectors across the ACT, including community, education, disability and ageing services, and the public health service. It will:

• oversee the implementation of the ACT Health Workforce Strategy 2023-2032 and its actions plans, including the design of individual projects and agreed actions.
• consider health workforce reports and projects under the National Health Workforce Taskforce and other committees and provide views and advice on their application to the ACT
• develop targeted interventions as requested by ACT Health System Council.

Contact

Contact the Health Workforce Strategy Unit by calling 02 5124 9966 emailing territoryhealthworkforce@act.gov.au.