Executive summary

Every single Victorian benefits from our 340,000 strong healthcare workforce.

It is the largest workforce in our state – 1 in 10 working Victorians is employed in medical, nursing, allied health, social services, administration, corporate or operational healthcare roles.

Nearly one-quarter of these workers live in rural or regional Victoria – helping to ensure access to healthcare and providing economic opportunities that keep our regional communities strong.

This essential workforce looks after us and keeps us healthy, and it also is one of the largest economic sectors in Victoria.

Local and global demand for healthcare workers will continue to grow. Competition for talent is fierce. The Victorian Skills Authority projects significant growth in the health industry with nearly 60,000 new workers needed in Victoria between 2023 and 2026.

Victoria’s healthcare workforce has grown by 33% since 2011, faster than the general population.

This is driven by an ageing population, increasing prevalence of chronic disease, and the government’s ongoing focus on ensuring Victorians receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place.

This growth will continue, and it matches global health workforce shortages and growth trends. The World Health Organization estimates that an additional 10 million full-time jobs will be needed in the health and social care sectors worldwide by 2030¹. At the same time, existing healthcare workers need to rebuild following the pressures of managing the COVID-19 pandemic².

This backdrop of workforce shortages and growing demand means that we need to retain the skilled healthcare workers we already have.

Demand growth translates into more opportunity for Victorian workers. The government needs to act to ensure workforce growth aligns with need.

This strategy sets out how we will attract, develop and retain the experienced healthcare workers we need. This work will be underpinned by improving healthcare workers’ experience.

Victoria’s population is widely distributed across the state. People who live in rural and regional areas can find it difficult to access healthcare services and healthcare workers.

Healthcare workers in rural and regional Victoria can have greater challenges compared to their colleagues in metropolitan areas to access the amenities, training and professional development to establish and grow their careers.

We need to create local training pathways and more opportunities for career development so we can attract and retain people in rural and regional roles.

As we build workforce supply, we will also work with the sector to develop and implement new models of care that promote workforce flexibility and enable top-of-scope practice. This is central to ensuring that all Victorians have access to the care they need.

Medical and technology advances mean tomorrow’s health workers will need to be supported to develop new skills to fulfil new and different roles.

Healthcare delivery has changed significantly in recent years. This pace of change will only continue because of rapidly evolving population health, technology and models of care.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a rapid expansion of digitally enabled services like virtual care and telehealth services. These have increased flexibility, service choice and responsiveness.

Our focus on patient-centred care and using multidisciplinary teams will create further changes for our healthcare workers.

We are also leveraging technology to improve preventive care and enable more care in the community.

We will collaborate across the sector to design and deliver contemporary roles and models of care, and ensure our workforces are equipped with the skills to thrive.

The Victorian Government is taking a holistic approach to attracting, retaining, and supporting a modern, engaged and sustainable health workforce.

A stronger and more sustainable workforce is one of the strategic drivers in the Department of Health’s Strategic plan 2023–27.

There has never been a more important time to attract, develop and retain a local world-class healthcare workforce. To do this, we need to work across the healthcare system to design the roles, education pathways, skills and experiences that support this workforce.

The Victorian Government’s 10-year strategy for the Victorian healthcare workforce will support workers’ journeys from education and training through to lifelong learning and fulfilling careers.

We will do this by concentrating on five focus areas.

1. Increase supply of priority roles: Bring in new workforce supply. Recruit and train new workers to support growth and a fit-for-purpose workforce
2. Strengthen rural and regional workforces: Improve capacity and distribution in rural and regional locations for equity in access to healthcare
3. Improve employee experience: Build a world-leading experience to retain the skilled workers we have and attract new people into healthcare
4. Build future roles and capabilities: Develop the workforce, roles, skills and models of care we need in future
5. Leverage digital, data and technology: Augment workforce capability, patient experience and continued innovation through digital

We will bring in more healthcare workers for Victoria and increase our efforts to maintain the workforce we already have. We want to ensure they have the skills and capabilities to work to the breadth of their scope and have fulfilling careers as we build the healthcare system of tomorrow.

These 5 focus areas inform 12 action areas. These actions will immediately strengthen Victoria’s health workforce and lay the foundations for longer-term reform, so all Victorians can access the right care, in the right place at the right time.

This strategy sits alongside historic investment in our healthcare workforce. It represents an ongoing commitment to ensuring the strength and capability of the largest workforce in our state.

The Victorian Government is demonstrating its commitment to the people who make up our healthcare system by investing in a skilled and empowered workforce that delivers quality care to our community.

We know how important it is to prepare our healthcare workforce for the future.

This investment includes:

• $154.2 million for election commitments, including strengthening staffing ratios to improve safety and increasing nursing and midwifery staff.
• $15.3 for key initiatives to implement this strategy, including building rural nursing and midwifery capability.
• $440.3 million for ongoing investment in health workforce training and development, including training the next generation of graduates and supporting postgraduate studies so we can keep developing our existing workforce.

This funding will support early reforms in our ambitious 10-year strategy to build a modern, sustainable and engaged healthcare workforce – and a healthcare system that meets the needs of all Victorians.

¹ World Health Organization, Global strategy on human resources for health: Workforce 2030, 2020.
² World Health Organization, Health and care workforce in Europe: time to act, 2022.