Rural Health Workforce Strategy Steering Committee
The Rural Health Workforce Strategy Steering Committee is responsible for the development of the South Australian Rural Health Workforce Strategy.
South Australia faces many challenges in recruiting, training and developing the health professionals and skilled volunteers needed to deliver public health services in rural areas.
The Government of South Australia has provided an investment of $20 million over four years, from 2018-19 to 2021-22, to develop and implement a Rural Health Workforce Strategy to address these challenges.
The Rural Health Workforce Strategy Steering Committee, chaired by Rural Support Service Chief Clinical Adviser Dr Hendrika Meyer, and comprising representatives from the following stakeholder groups, along with regional local health network (LHN) and Rural Support Service members, and Riverland Mallee Coorong LHN Governing Board Chair Dr Peter Joyner, is providing high-level oversight and governance of the strategy:
In January 2019, based on recommendations from the Steering Committee, the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, the Hon. Stephen Wade MLC, announced the following initial funding allocations under the Rural Health Workforce Strategy for 2018-19:
The investment in the DTN led to the roll-out of rural DTN units in the emergency departments of all country public hospitals in South Australia, with the equipment installed in the final site, Murray Bridge, on 3 December 2019. All of these sites now have access to high-quality specialist advice using the DTN, including the 24/7 Country Stroke Support Service and MedSTAR emergency medical retrieval service, and 30 of them have access to after-hours GP support through SAVES.
The allocation of the following additional funding for 2018-19 was approved by the Minister in March 2019, based on recommendations from the Rural Health Workforce Strategy Steering Committee:
In addition, $290,000 was allocated for a project team in the then Country Health SA to support the development and implementation of the strategy, including plans for each profession of the rural health workforce. This project team is now part of the Rural Support Service.
In addition to these important investments, the initial priority for the Rural Health Workforce Strategy Steering Committee and project team was the development of a
Rural Medical Workforce Plan, which was released by the Minister in December 2019.
During 2019-20 further funding allocations have continued to support the following initiatives that commenced in 2018-19:
Funding was also allocated to the following new projects in 2019-20:
The Rural SAAS Workforce Plan was released by the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, the Hon Stephen Wade MLC, on 6 August 2020.
The development of plans for the nursing and midwifery, and allied health professional workforces has commenced, with focus groups and workshops involving a broad range of stakeholders including regional LHNs planned for the coming months. These plans will also include the Aboriginal health workforce. Drafts of the plans are expected to be released for consultation in early 2021, with the final plans due for release by June 2021.
In future, the strategy will consider the volunteers that support rural health care.
For more information, please email Health.RuralHealthWorkforceStrategy@sa.gov.au.