Workforce and training

NHHRC recommendation 100: “We recommend a new education framework for the education and training of health professionals:

moving towards a flexible, multi-disciplinary approach to the education and training of all health professionals;
incorporating an agreed competency-based framework as part of broad teaching and learning curricula for all health professionals;
establishing a dedicated funding stream for clinical placements for undergraduate and postgraduate students; and
ensuring clinical training infrastructure across all settings (public and private, hospitals, primary health care and other community settings)."

NHHRC recommendation 101: “To ensure better collaboration, communication and planning between the health services and health education and training sectors, we recommend the establishment of a National Clinical Education and Training Agency:

to advise on the education and training requirements for each region;
to assist with planning clinical education infrastructure across all service settings, including rural and remote areas;
to form partnerships with local universities, vocational education and training organisations, and professional colleges to acquire clinical education placements from health service providers, including a framework for activity-based payments for undergraduates’ clinical education and postgraduate training;
to promote innovation in education and training of the health workforce;
as a facilitator for the provision of modular competency-based programs to up-skill health professionals (medical, nursing, allied health and Aboriginal health workers) in regional, rural and remote Australia; and
to report every three years on the appropriateness of accreditation standards in each profession in terms of innovation around meeting the emerging health care needs of the community.

"Further, we recommend that the governance, management and operations of the Agency should include a balance of clinical and educational expertise, and public and private health services representation in combination with Commonwealth and state health agencies.

“While the Agency has an overarching leadership function, it should support implementation and innovation at the local level."

AMA recommends:

training more GPs
- 820 prevocational general practice training placements a year by 2012, and 1500 first year GP vocational training positions a year by 2015.
Immediate doubling of existing teaching grants to fund increased opportunities for medical students and other health care providers to access multidisciplinary clinical training in general practice;

See a report on previous workforce mistakes here.