Review of the Health, Welfare and Care Workforce in Tasmania, Australia: 2011–2016

Abstract

Background: On a per capita basis, rural communities are underserviced by health professionals when compared to metropolitan areas of Australia. However, most studies evaluating health workforce focus on discrete professional groups rather than the collective contribution of the range of health, care and welfare workers within communities. The objective of this study was therefore to illustrate a novel approach for evaluating the broader composition of the health, welfare and care (HWC) workforce in Tasmania, Australia, and its potential to inform the delivery of healthcare services within rural communities. Methods: Census data (2011 and 2016) were obtained for all workers involved in health, welfare and care service provision in Tasmania and in each statistical level 4 area (SA4) of the state. Workers were grouped into seven categories: medicine, nursing, allied health, dentistry and oral health, health-other, welfare and carers. Data were aggregated for each category to obtain total headcount, total full time equivalent (FTE) positions and total annual hours of service per capita, with changes observed over the five-year period. Results: All categories of the Tasmanian HWC workforce except welfare grew between 2011 and 2016. While this growth occurred in all SA4 regions across the state, the HWC workforce remained maldistributed, with more annual hours of service per capita provided in the Hobart area. Although the HWC workforce remained highly feminised, a move toward gender balance was observed in some categories, including medicine, dentistry and oral health, and carers. The HWC workforce also saw an increase in part-time workers across all categories. Conclusions: Adopting a broad approach to health workforce planning can better reflect the reality of healthcare service delivery. For underserviced rural communities, recognising the diverse range of workers who can contribute to the provision of health, welfare and care services offers the opportunity to realise existing workforce capacity and explore how ‘total care’ may be delivered by different combinations of health, welfare and care workers.

Rural origin student representation in health courses at the University of Tasmania: 2011–2020

“…Adopting a rural pipeline approach, 25 course offerings at these campus locations should reflect consideration of local workforce shortages. The north west coast of Tasmania has historically experienced the lowest per capita numbers of nursing, medicine and allied health professionals 16 . However, this study found that courses such as medicine, paramedicine, pharmacy and psychology, all of which recorded higher numbers of regional students than rural have, historically, only been available at the Hobart campus.…”

“…The north west coast of Tasmania has historically experienced the lowest per capita numbers of nursing, medicine and allied health professionals. 16 However, this study found that courses such as medicine, paramedicine, pharmacy and psychology, all of which recorded higher numbers of regional students than rural have, historically, only been available at the Hobart campus. Offering courses for health professions which are in short supply at the Launceston and Cradle Coast campuses, attracting local students and providing quality rural training experiences will all likely positively contribute to rural health workforce growth and distribution across the state.…”

“…15 Although overall growth in the health workforce has been seen over the last decade, the north and north-west of the state continue to have less access to a range of health, welfare and care professionals. 16 The absence of local courses for several allied health disciplines including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology, has exacerbated health workforce shortages across Tasmania, 17 with the requirement for Tasmanian students to relocate interstate for their preferred course likely to be both financially and socially prohibitive. 18 Focusing on place-based opportunities to develop a 'home grown' health workforce to address specific workforce challenges has therefore become an important policy platform and strategy for both the Tasmanian Department of Health and UTAS.…”

“…However, Tasmania's geographical isolation, rural characteristics and population dispersion impacts both health workforce supply and distribution, especially allied health professionals 15 . Although overall growth in the health workforce has been seen over the last decade, the north and north‐west of the state continue to have less access to a range of health, welfare and care professionals 16 . The absence of local courses for several allied health disciplines including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology, has exacerbated health workforce shortages across Tasmania, 17 with the requirement for Tasmanian students to relocate interstate for their preferred course likely to be both financially and socially prohibitive 18 .…”

Healthcare Providers’ Perceptions of Potentially Preventable Rural Hospitalisations: A Qualitative Study

“…The GPs interviewed believed lack of access to services of all types and the limited range of services in the community were major causes of PPHs. Understanding the views of the broader rural health workforce, its service gaps, and potential capacity may be useful for future workforce planning and resources allocation [ 32 ].…”