Universities Summit: Three health experts weigh in on solutions to the workforce crisis

The Universities Australia Solutions Summit took place in Canberra this week, bringing together academia from across the country, as well as industry leaders and government.

The flagship event aims to support national priorities with an exchange of ideas on everything from workforce productivity to Trump's America.

Three Australian healthcare experts participated in a panel discussion aimed at identifying the biggest challenges and possible solutions to a number of issues. They included the nation's ongoing workforce crisis and the important role universities play in the sustainability of our healthcare system.

Meeting the demand

Sonic Healthcare non-executive independent director Emeritus Professor Christine Bennett AO began by identifying four key gaps in the country's health education: multidisciplinary ways of working; incorporating digital health and data science; addressing bioethical issues; and involving consumers in their own healthcare decisions.

“My perspective is that Australia is one of the greatest health systems in the world and delivers the best care,” Professor Bennett said.

“But as other nations do around the world. We face common problems of shortage of supply, issues of distribution, and not to mention some gaps in knowledge, because we tend to educate and train for how things have been rather than or how things will be in the future.

“And in all systems as well, there's inefficiency and waste because [...] our health professionals are not necessarily using their skills and competencies to the max.

“For a better national approach to multidisciplinary health workforce, planning, investment and monitoring is critical.”

Future focused

The panel delved into the role of universities in leading the way for a prevention-focused, future-oriented care model, as well as calling attention to the ongoing need for collaborative research and innovation to support a sustainable healthcare system.

Director of UNSW's Centre for Future Health Systems Professor Michael Kidd AO said the obligation of universities is to ensure their healthcare graduates are job ready. They need an education in technology, the effects of climate change, an ageing population and future pandemics.

“We need to be teaching our students, and the future health workforce, the world's greatest health challenge, which is the inequities that we see in healthcare, both in Australia and around the world,” he said.

“And in the land of the fair go, how do we ensure that everybody receives access to high-quality health care, no matter who they are, no matter where they live, no matter what their background may be?”

Professor Kidd also highlighted the country's moral quandary concerning foreign labour.

“We need to think about the health workforce which is not trained by Australia's universities, and that's those who trained overseas and migrated to Australia. [We need to] look at our moral imperative to be training enough healthcare workers in Australia so that ... [we're] not drawing health workforce from other parts of the world, which cannot afford to then be left without doctors, nurses and other health care providers.”

Preventative care

Steve Robson, former AMA president and Honorary Professor at ANU's School of Medicine and Psychology said for the most sustainable health system “one of the key things that we have to do as a sector is move away from the paradigm of treating disease,” and quickly pivot towards a model of preventative healthcare.

Unconvinced that digital innovation will be the “panacea“ it is often portrayed to be, Professor Robson said he'd instead like to see the government spend more on prevention.

Australia spends around 1.8 per cent of its total health funding on prevention, whereas countries like the UK and Canada allocate around five to six per cent.

“We know that a healthy population is the fundamental requirement for a healthy economy,” he said.

“But the problem is, [...] it's fun and profitable to treat established disease and injury. But I think we have to change that paradigm, and that's where universities can really, really lead thought in this area.”