More unified approach to health workforce planning

Health Minister Tony Ryall today announced a new national health workforce training board to unify workforce planning in New Zealand. The Government wants better integration of health education and training with less duplication and clearer focus.

A Clinical Training Agency Board is being established, and will be led by Professor Des Gorman, the Head of the School of Medicine at the University of Auckland. The Medical Training Board is being disestablished.

The CTA Board's purpose is to work with the Minister to drive the rationalisation of the funding and planning of health workforce training, ultimately consolidating it within the Clinical Training Agency. It will operate from within the Ministry of Health until decisions on its longer term placement are made.

"We've inherited disjointed and uncoordinated resources in the health sector attempting to deal with serious and longstanding workforce issues. A raft of health workforce reports over the years have been critical of this duplication and called for a coordinated national response to workforce issues. And this is now what we are doing.

"Today we are also releasing four reports which again, are in overall agreement that the health workforce status quo is untenable. The reports agree we need one single agency to ensure coordination of workforce training, planning and funding as nurses and doctors and other health professionals move along their career continuum in the public health system."

The four reports released by the Minister today are:

• Treating People Well – the report of the Director-General of Health's Commission on the Resident Medical Officer ( Report of the RMO Commission),
• Foundations of Excellence: Building Infrastructure for Medical Education and Training – Report of the Medical Training Board ( MTB Report),
• A Nursing Education and Training Board for New Zealand – the report from the committee on Strategic Oversight for Nursing Education (Nursing Report) and
• A Review of How Training of the New Zealand Workforce is Planned and Funded: a proposal for a reconfiguration of the clinical Training Agency – report of the Ministerial Task Group on Postgraduate Education and Training (CTA Review Report).

After years of reports and indecision, decisions have been made. This is not the full answer to our workforce crisis; it is part of the solution. I am confident that New Zealand will be better placed to deal with its health workforce crisis as a result."

The reports can be accessed by clicking on this link:

http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/health-and-disability-workforce-reports-aug09