A recent report commissioned by HumanAbility, the Jobs and Skills Council for the health, care and sports and recreation sectors, Global Healthcare Labour Markets: Australia in Context, provides a comprehensive analysis of Australia’s healthcare workforce within a global framework.
Authored by Human Ability’s ‘Thinker in Residence’ Prof. James Buchan, the report addresses critical challenges such as labour shortages, technological advancements, and ethical recruitment practices, and how to tackle them and in doing so, strengthen Australia’s healthcare workforce.
One of the report’s primary concerns is the global shortage of healthcare workers, with estimates ranging from 15 to 43 million trained healthcare workers. Australia is particularly vulnerable, as over 30% of our doctors and nearly 20% of our nurses are currently trained overseas.
This reliance on overseas trained professionals raises a range of issues, including ethical issues when sourcing talent from low-income countries with their own critical healthcare needs.
The report advocates that Australia’s migration policies need to be better aligned to “efforts to strengthen local training and retention”, to reduce our dependence on overseas recruitment.
The rapid adoption of digital health technologies, such as telemedicine, during the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed healthcare delivery. It has also brought about a need for additional skills such as data security and digital literacy. The report emphasises the need for targeted training and support to ensure the healthcare workforce has the competencies required to effectively utilise these technologies.
The pandemic also exacerbated workforce stress, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimating that nearly half of healthcare workers globally, experienced severe stress leading to burnout. As a result, many healthcare workers have since reduced their hours or left the sector entirely, further exacerbating skill shortages.
Australia’s investment in healthcare stands at 9.6% of our GDP, surpassing the average for developed countries. Despite this, our aging population and increasing reliance on migrant workers means there is a need to increase investment in VET, especially in underserved areas.
Access to healthcare remains a significant challenge in rural and remote regions. “Australia has one of the most widely dispersed populations in the world, with large areas of very low population density combined with some large high density urban areas. An overlapping but critically significant policy issue is the concentration of First Nations people in rural and remote areas.”
To attract and retain more healthcare workers in rural and regional areas, the report recommends implementing focused recruitment and training programs, (including continuing education and professional development programs), as well as offering sustainable financial and nonfinancial incentives, including scholarships.
