Despite the ongoing expansion of Australia's health workforce, our health system is still not equipped to deliver appropriate and timely care to Australians, write Peter Brooks and Niki Ellis. more
In Focus
A New Approach to Australia’s health workforce
In this new paper Jill Iliffe argues that any serious attempt to improve Australia’s health policy must address the capacity, efficiency and flexibility of our health workforce. Download the paper, ‘A New Approach to Australia’s Heatlh Workforce‘ (pdf) The health workforce comprises around 5% of the total workforce in Australia, and absorbs around two thirds of Australia’s total health spending. Health spending itself is about 9.7% of GDP. Australia employs similar ratios of health professionals … more
Health Sector Reform Part 1: Workforce Reform
In early June 2005 the Council of Australian Governments meeting, the Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers acknowledged the need for health workforce reform. A report is expected from the Productivity Commission by the end of the year. My concern is that it will only be more of the same, more training the same way, and more employment the same way, when we really need root and branch change. We need to train and employ … more