System outcome
To build a modern, sustainable and engaged healthcare workforce that meets the needs of all Victorians.
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
Action areas
- Attract and retain healthcare workers in professions with known, or projected workforce supply challenges
- Develop targeted workforce strategies for priority roles
- Improve career pathways to support more opportunities for new entrants, re-entrants and role transitions
2. Strengthen rural and regional workforces
Improve capacity and distribution in rural and regional locations for equity in access to healthcare
Action areas
- Foster local talent pipelines in rural and regional locations by growing local training pathways
- Review and refresh incentives and enablers to attract and retain professionals in rural and regional settings.
- Explore innovative employment models that support flexible careers and improve access to care.
3. Improve employee experience
Build a world-leading experience to retain the skilled workers we have and attract new people into healthcare
Action areas
- Develop a state-wide employee value proposition
- Review the public sector healthcare workforce annually to continuously improve
4. Build future roles and capabilities
Develop the workforce, roles, skills and models of care we need in future
Action areas
- Develop targeted workforce strategies to pilot and implement new and expanded roles that support contemporary models of care
- Establish employment models that maximise the development and transferability of skills across multiple settings
5. Leverage digital, data and technology solutions
Augment workforce capacity, patient experience and continued innovation through digital
Action areas
- Share opportunities for innovative technology to augment workforce capacity (such as robotics and artificial intelligence).
- Improve public sector workforce data through an uplift in data capture, sharing, integration and analytics to enable data-led workforce planning and policy.
Spotlight: focusing on recovery and new ways of working
The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant and sustained change to Victoria’s health system and placed unprecedented pressure on the health workforce3.
Victoria’s healthcare workers adapted quickly – trying new roles, skills and service delivery models to meet rapidly changing needs in managing a novel disease under ongoing pressure.
In addition, we expanded and embedded technological methods of care, which quickly became routine.
During the pandemic, the healthcare workforce demonstrated ongoing flexibility and adaptability.
Examples include:
- rapidly expanding training to support new people to work in intensive care and emergency departments
- extended team-based models of care enabling healthcare workers to perform to the top of their scope
- scaling up testing and vaccination services with new professional groups.
The pandemic also delivered the long-desired expansion of telehealth as a core component of service delivery. This significantly expands a clinician’s potential range and their ability to meet community needs.
Services such as remote monitoring through the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department have quickly become integral to Victoria’s health system, allowing people to access flexible services that work with their needs.
As we look to the next 10 years, we will harness the dedication, skill, responsiveness and innovation of our people.
This 10-year workforce strategy underpins this by boosting our focus on the experience of our healthcare workforces. We want to ensure our people have the systems and support that enable them to do their best work.
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