Health sector facing a 'demographic tsunami'
Health Services of the Future brought together representatives from across the health care space this week to discuss the value and place of research in solving the issues facing Australia's health care future.
"As our population continues to age, the increased demand on health care resources will force sector leaders and industry, government and educational organisations to change their approach to health care service provision," said UTS Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), Professor Attila Brungs,
"We will be forced to find new ways to maximise our existing resources through the use of innovation, technology and smarter workforce management."
Workforce issues were a key theme of the day. Speakers at the event included Mr Steve Teulan, Director of UnitingCare Ageing; Mr Malcolm Passmore, NSW Regional Operations Manager, for Ramsay Healthcare; and UTS Professor Christine Duffield, head of the Centre for Health Services and Practice, who formed an expert panel to discuss workforce planning and the balance between training new health professionals and making better use of existing employees.
Professor Duffield, an international expert in workforce planning, said that while educational institutions had done their bit to increase university placements for clinical degrees such as nursing, even the increased numbers were having very little impact on the workforce shortage.
"The workforce shortage is nothing new," she said.
"The issue is that we have an ageing healthcare workforce, working in a very challenging sector, and the demands on these workers just keep on increasing. As a result, there are large numbers of people retiring, and large numbers of people leaving the sector due to the pressure of the job.
"These numbers cannot be matched solely by creating more university places."
A partial solution could be to make better use of the existing workforce, allowing professionals to work to the extent of their scope of practice, and creating greater opportunities in terms of career progression within the sector to inspire people to stay.
"While we urgently need more health care professionals in almost every discipline area, we could go some way to solving the most pressing of our workforce issues by ensuring that we are accessing the full extent of the expertise and experience of the people we already have," said Professor Duffield.
Another series of presentations showcased existing collaborative research projects between UTS and a range of industry partners. These included a partnership between the UTS ithree institute and New Zealand company Comvita, which seeks to build an evidence base for a Manuka honey solution that has proven effective in treating chronic wounds; and a project between the UTS Centre for Mechatronic Systems and Greystanes Disability Services that is exploring assistive robotics that can give people living with disabilities greater independence.
"Research provides an evidence base that is essential for policy makers and for clinicians who are engaging with patients at the front line of health care," Professor Brungs said.
"This event clearly showcased the place of research in developing innovative solutions for the myriad issues we face as pressure on our health system grows."
Provided by University of Technology, Sydney
