Health care workforce planning
Professor Leonie Segal, in the Health Economics and
policy group with Professor Robyn McDermott, PVC
Health Sciences, Professor Esther May, Health of School, Allied Health UniSA
with Dr John Glover, Adelaide University and Robyn Boyce University of
Queensland have received funding through the Australian Research Council to
further develop and apply an evidence-based health workforce planning model
to support delivery of best practice care for persons with chronic diseases.
The model draws on population health status and published best practice
guidelines, which will be translated into competencies by a national
clinical and policy advisory panel to ascertain the primary care health
workforce required to deliver best practice care. The Model will be applied
to the population of Adelaide and the provincial centre of Whyalla with Type
2 diabetes.
Despite the known benefits of multidisciplinary team care in chronic disease
management, health workforce planning has not previously been applied to
ensure access to the necessary competencies.
The workforce model will inform government health workforce and health services planning, with the promise of improving access to best practice care for persons with diabetes, and potentially other chronic conditions, that represent the dominant Australian health burden. It also will inform education and training of health professionals and support a more flexible response to health workforce needs.
Given projected health work force shortages, flexibility in responding to
health care needs will be crucial to maintaining health system capacity. The
model supports system level change that will enable improved population
health outcomes, reduce preventable hospital admissions and deliver
production gains. The Project will proceed in partnership with the
Department of Health SA.