Careful planning for the healthcare workforce is vital to ensure an effective, long-lasting, and resilient healthcare system. Demonstrating their commitment to advancing knowledge in this crucial area, the ANU College of Health and Medicine’s National Centre for Health Workforce Studies held a one-day course on the 8^th December, led by Professor Mark Cormack and Associate Professor Ian Crettenden. Focused on key aspects of health workforce policy, planning, and intelligence, the course brought together 27 participants from various health professions and organisations.

Participants gained an understanding of fundamental policy settings, drivers of supply and demand, and contemporary approaches to workforce planning and development.

“One thing that surprised me was how diverse the group was in the session and all those different perspectives on health care systems and how they operate. I would recommend it to the rest of my team.” - Feedback from a participant in the 2023 course.

The course provided valuable insights, empowering participants to:

• Describe the healthcare workforce as a complex system with multiple layers of governance and diverse stakeholders, playing critical roles in supporting the labour force that sustains health and care services.
• Analyse the causes and effects of the persistent imbalance between the supply and demand for healthcare workers.
• Evaluate potential policy, investment, and program responses to address workforce shortages, uneven distribution, and deficiencies.
• Understand a diverse range of data and information sources to effectively describe, measure, analyse, plan, monitor, and evaluate the healthcare workforce, in conjunction with the essential policy and investment decisions for its growth and sustainability.
• Grasp various workforce planning and projection methods supported by evidence and consider their application at different levels - national, jurisdictional, regional, and sectoral.

For those interested in participating in the 2024 course, please visit our website to express your interest.