Australia’s health and care workforce—governance, policy, planning and programs

Course overview 

Australia’s health and care sector is facing an unprecedented period of workforce scarcity, maldistribution, growth and productivity challenges. Governments, industry, funders, higher education, professional bodies and regulators all play critical roles in the essential governance, policy, planning, funding and investment functions in the health and care system which contribute to both its problems and potential solutions. 

The Australian National University (ANU) is offering a two-day, intensive short course for leaders and practitioners in government, industry, professions and higher education to be upskilled and equipped in understanding and responding to the complex systemic challenges of securing a sustainable, productive and motivated workforce for the health and care sector.

Hosts

The Course is convened by the National Centre for Health Workforce Studies and led by: 

Professor James Buchan 

Professor Buchan is Senior Fellow at the Health Foundation, UK, and Adjunct Professor at the WHO Collaborating Centre, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

He has specialised in health workforce policy throughout his career. His background includes working in government agencies in Scotland and Australia, and for the Royal College of Nursing. He has also been a Regional Adviser on Human Resources for the WHO. 

He now works extensively as a consultant on health workforce policy, in countries in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, for governments and international agencies, including ICN, WHO and the World Bank. He is also Editor Emeritus of Human Resources for Health, the peer-reviewed journal affiliated with WHO.

Professor Lisa Nissen 

Professor Lisa Nissen is a Professor of Pharmacy and a nationally and internationally recognised leader in health workforce policy, workforce optimisation and scope of practice reform. Her work focuses on improving access to healthcare through workforce and service redesign, multidisciplinary care models and evidence-informed policy change.

Her research has driven major health system reforms, including leading the introduction of pharmacist-led immunisation services across Australia and the Urinary Tract Infection Pharmacy Pilot in Queensland, both Australian firsts. She was previously Head of the School of Clinical Sciences at QUT and has held senior leadership roles with national boards and state committees across professional, consumer and health organisations.

Professor Nissen was Research Lead for the Australian Government’s Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review (2023–2024). She brings a strong applied systems perspective, with a proven record of convening governments, professions, regulators and industry to challenge traditional boundaries and implement sustainable, consumer-centred workforce and care models. 

Professor Mark Cormack 

Mark Cormack is Professor of Health System Policy at the National Centre for Health Workforce Studies at the Australian National University (ANU). This follows a long career in the Australian, ACT and NSW government services. Mark has served as a Chief Executive (ACT Health & Health Workforce Australia) and Deputy Secretary (Commonwealth Departments of Health, Veterans’ Affairs and Home Affairs) with portfolio responsibilities for public policy and programs including mental health, primary care, workforce, public hospitals, research, Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Schemes, national blood supply, Primary Health Networks, public hospitals, and private health insurance. 

Mark was appointed by the Minister for Health and Aged Care to lead  Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce -  Scope of Practice Review from 2023 – 2024. Professor Lisa Nissen was the research lead, and Professor James Buchan served as the specialist adviser for this major national policy review.

Course structure

Location

Innovation Space, Level 2, Birch Building #35, 35 Science Road, Acton ACT 2601

Terms and Conditions

 Please refer to the T&C webpage here.

FAQs

Who is this course for?

• Senior policy-making, program, technical and managerial staff in national,  state, and territory ministries of health or other agencies, involved in strategic decision-making, policy development, planning and program implementation for the health and care workforce development. This includes program management, information and data analysis, training, planning,  projection and financing.
• Senior managers and technical staff at regional, organisational and local levels, responsible for areas such as health workforce planning and labour market analysis, deployment, performance, data management /analysis, policy implementation, and capacity development.
• Leaders of professional associations, regulatory bodies, technical agencies and non-government organisations involved in health and care workforce policy matters. 
• Other interested professionals and practitioners who aspire to acquire additional knowledge and capability in health and care workforce policy, leadership and management. 

What are the expected learning outcomes? 

• Understand and describe 
  • the health and care workforce as a complex adaptive system with multiple layers of governance and disparate stakeholders performing a wide range of functions to secure, maintain and optimise the labour force that underpins health and care service delivery.
  • improved understanding of labour market dynamics and causes and effects of chronic imbalance between labour force supply and demand.
• Consider potential policy, investment, program and management responses to optimise the health workforce and address scarcity, maldistribution, and productivity.
• Identify the range of data and information sources to describe, quantify, analyse, plan, and monitor the health and care workforce and to evaluate the policy and investment decisions necessary to develop and sustain it.
• Be familiar with the range of workforce planning and projection methods, the evidence underpinning them and  their application at a national, jurisdictional, regional and sectoral level.