Terms Of Reference

Scope

Oversight the development of a 10 year Health Professionals Workforce Plan:

The Workforce Plan will have the following elements:

(i) an assessment of the future workforce needs of NSW Health,

(ii) strategies to ensure that NSW Health continues to recruit, train and retain high calibre health professionals to meet the health needs of the community.

The aims of the Workforce Plan are:

(i) enough workforce with the right skills in the right places to meet the community’s needs;

(ii) adequate support, supervision and professional development..

The Workforce Plan will include the following:

(i) service and workforce planning including forecasting and modelling the demand and supply of the health workforce over a 10 year period;

(ii) a costing of implementation. The Plan will be formulated to enable implementation within budget constraints;

(iii) differentiation of strategies to be progressed as part of national initiatives and those to be progressed by NSW Health.

In developing the Workforce Plan, the Taskforce will:

(i) take into account service delivery models to ensure the most appropriate use of the skill mix of health professionals to optimise efficiency and patient care. This includes taking into consideration new and changing models of care, cost impacts, employment arrangements, workforce capability and training pathways, workforce distribution with particular focus on outer metropolitan, regional and rural NSW;

(ii) ensure progress towards a more multi-disciplinary approach to health workforce education, training, recruitment and development;

(iii) develop appropriate, timely and effective linkages with NSW Government agencies and health sector representatives (clinical leaders, health academics, health regulators, employer representatives, and training providers);

(iv) make recommendations for changes to scopes of practice and for workforce innovations to support improved efficiency and effectiveness of health services;

(v) take into account other Government and national workforce priorities.

(vi) support the NSW Government’s commitment, as set out in its Plan to Provide Timely , Quality Health Care, to implement a Health Professionals Workforce Plan to ensure NSW trains, recruits and retains doctors, nurses and allied health professionals and which will provide certainty in direction for

Medical Workforce

Including issues of greater intern capacity and other post-graduate medical training, rural pathways for GP training and careers, highest quality education for doctors

Nursing & Midwifery Workforce

Including issues of skill mix, career pathways and post graduate development, attraction of experienced nurses back to NSW hospitals.

Allied Health Workforce

Including issues of models of care which can be improved through greater usage of allied health groups, and career pathways for the individual allied health groups.

Relationship with National Programs

The Taskforce will also work in collaboration with the Health Workforce Australia to ensure that the NSW Plan complements national workforce initiatives, including:

(i) the Health Workforce Australia Health Reform and Innovation Strategic Framework for Action;

(ii) National Training Planning for Doctors and Nurses being developed by Health Workforce Australia for AHMC;

(iii) national commitment to improve coordination of care for chronic and aged care services.

Time frame

The Health Workforce Plan is to be submitted for consideration by 31 March 2012

Membership

- Anne Marie Freyer Chair

- Ms Patricia Bradd,

- Professor Debra Thoms,

- Dr Andrew Keegan,

- Mr Denys Wynn, Medical Imaging, Lismore,

- Dr Scott Finlay

Lead Division

Deputy Director-General Health System Support

Secretariat – Workforce Development

Reporting date

31 March 2012

Garling Reference

Chapter 11 and references in Chapter 10