CEO's Report

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CEO's Report

2023-2024 marks the 25th financial year of the agency’s support of Queensland's remote and rural health workforce and whilst we continue to work to attract, recruit, and retain primary health care workers in remote, rural, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, we have taken some time to reflect and review our strategic directions.

We have developed a new strategic plan for 2024 to 2028 to drive improved health outcomes for remote and rural Queenslanders through equitable and effective health workforce solutions through these four priorities.

1. increasing access to health workforce through the creation of workforce pipelines, innovative workforce models and targeted placement solutions whilst ensuring a focus on First Nations health workforce

2. improving workforce retention, practise sustainability and workforce capability through tailored support activities

3. increasing the impact of workforce solutions and improved advocacy by using the evidence of health workforce need

4. increasing the focus of resources to meet unmet needs through partnerships and collaborations

The impact of our services and program supports to our health workforce in remote, rural, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is highlighted in this Year in Review. We are pleased to report that we have directly supported 589 health professionals in ACCHSs, Allied Health services, General Practice, and Primary Health Care settings.

We continue to provide a range of recruitment advisory services to health professionals and practices/employers including access to provider numbers, relocation grants and specific workforce programs to further increase access to high quality health professionals. We directly recruited 45 General Practitioners, 16 Allied Health Professionals and 8 Nurses/Midwives.

The following program supports and events, financial incentives, scholarships or bursaries have enhanced access to available services and impacted workforce retention in remote and rural primary health care. Key successes include:

• 60 health professional students participating in our GROW Rural workforce solution which aims to lead to a job in a town they know.

• 879 Scholarships and Bursaries for Aboriginal Health Workers/Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals, GPs, Nurses, Midwives to undertake valuable education and short courses.

• 78 GPs and Nurses attending one of our accredited CPD Workshops ensuring they maintain their Emergency Mental Health, Emergency Cardiology and Emergency Paediatrics skills.

• 347 delegates attending the 2024 RDAQ Conference which HWQ is a conference partner and event manager.

All these activities contribute to maintaining and growing our skilled rural workforce.

We continually work on increasing the impact of our workforce solutions and improving our advocacy by using the best available evidence of health workforce need, distribution and trends. The Health Workforce Stakeholder Group (HWSG) is a key group that sharpens the focus of each agency’s actions and advocacy on policy and program responses.

The 2023 Health Workforce Stakeholder Group (HWSG) meeting explored multidisciplinary team-based care and increasing primary care access. In depth discussions were had around system challenges, profession challenges, and local challenges specific to these two topics and key messages to address some of these challenges were captured and provided to relevant key audiences such as the Australian and Queensland Ministers for Health, their departments as well as Local Government and Primary Health Networks for their attention and potential action. I would like to thank all HWSG members for their ongoing commitment and participation.

We are putting more resources into addressing unmet needs by building partnerships and working together. We know that teamwork is essential for success, and we appreciate the strong connections we have with our stakeholders and partners. By joining a range of focused workforce planning groups and alliances, we aim to ensure that remote and rural communities can access quality and sustainable primary health care.

We are involved throughout the state, participating in many working groups within these partnerships. Through these local projects, we continue to support the health workforce and the communities they serve, showing our commitment to improving healthcare in the areas that need it most.

HWQ is an active member of the Rural Workforce Agency Network (RWAN), and I would like to thank my Rural Workforce Agency (RWA) colleagues for providing a national reference point for engaging with stakeholders across the country, taking part in national discussions, and influencing national policies and practices.

We look forward to working with our key funder the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care to provide important initiatives to support remote and rural primary health care and acknowledge their ongoing support.

I extend my gratitude to the HWQ Directors for their invaluable guidance and unwavering commitment throughout the past year. In my role, I am supported by an exceptional leadership and management team along with dedicated staff members who remain steadfast in their commitment to supporting the remote and rural health workforce.

We anticipate another demanding year as we continue to drive to improve health outcomes for remote and rural Queenslanders through equitable and effective health workforce solutions and we remain committed to achieving positive outcomes.

Chris Mitchell
CEO, Health Workforce Queensland