Released Tuesday 10 September 2024
WA Health have ignored the overwhelming evidence gathered in its own Independent Review of Career Pathways for Health Professionals in WA Public Health by failing to commit to implement modern career pathways for over 7,000 Allied Health Professionals in the unanimously rejected Second Offer.
HSUWA members who have dedicated their lives to public patient care have written to the Minister for Health sharing their experiences in the public health system and the critical workforce issues requiring urgent reform.
Their calls for meaningful change to create a sustainable workforce have gone unanswered.
In their letters to the Health Minister, HSUWA members told of feeling disrespected and of being pushed out of the public system or away from patient-facing roles due to the current antiquated Allied Health career pathways.
The terms of the Second Offer kept the existing workforce structures, which have not been reformed in 20 years, largely intact and offered a one-off reclassification for a proportion of senior staff in 3 or 4 years that will not do enough to improve retention and service delivery or foster a sustainable workforce.
The broad impacts of the workforce issues addressed by this claim span from ramping and bed block in the acute hospital setting through to a lack of mental health practitioners to provide critical children’s mental health services.
Under the Second Offer, the public health system will continue to fail to recognise additional levels of study, skill and expertise amongst Allied Health Professionals under the existing rigid and flat pay structures.
Overdue, urgent workforce reform measures providing clear career pathways for Allied Health Professionals are critical to stopping the continuing exodus of essential public health workers to the private sector.
Western Australia is lagging behind the contemporary practices in other States and in countries such as New Zealand and the UK, and without urgent workforce reform will only continue to fall further behind. The public health system cannot deliver world-class healthcare without an investment in our world-class Allied Health and Health Sciences workforce.
A continued focus on band-aid solutions that have little to no direct impact on work force attraction and retention comes at a greater cost to Government, both to the State’s balance book and to patient care.
The message from HSUWA members is clear – the State Government needs to stop its current approach of expensive, short sighted and short-term thinking and get serious about engaging with the Allied Health workforce in a fair and respectful way.
The State Government must prove they are serious about supporting quality public health care by submitting a serious and fair Third Offer to HSUWA members that includes a firm commitment to implement modern career pathways for Allied Health Professionals.
The Health Minister must step in and ensure WA Health invests now in WA’s 7,000-strong Allied Health workforce.
An investment now will deliver dividends for WA health’s future and sustainability.
An investment now provides the recognition and respect that the public health workforce deserves.
Comments attributed to Naomi McCrae, HSUWA Secretary;
“Our members have let the Health Minister know in no uncertain terms that without career pathway reform, high turnover and difficulties attracting experienced Allied Health Professionals to the public health system will continue to impact patient care.
“Our Allied Health and Health Sciences workforces are critical to keeping people out of hospital and shortening their hospital stay. They are key to financially sustainable health care, yet the State Government is refusing to meaningfully reform the current structures that see many Allied Health Professionals hit the ceiling for career progression after six years in the job.
“WA Health and the Health Minister must urgently act to implement fair career pathways for the Allied Health and Health Sciences workforce to ensure the safe delivery of patient care in WA public health.
“While WA Health continues to focus on tinkering, HSUWA members are continuing to fight, in good faith, for fair pay and priority workforce reforms to ultimately deliver a sustainable public health system for Western Australians.
“By choosing to omit meaningful career pathway reform for Allied Health Professionals and Anaesthetic Technicians from the Second Offer, the State Government is either unaware of the critical workforce retention issues impacting patient care or they just don’t care. After the Government’s two-year international recruitment campaign and recent delegations to India and New Zealand, HSUWA members are concerned it’s the latter.
“We will continue to fight until the State Government is ready to engage with our claim in a meaningful and respectful way.
“It is time the State Government makes public health workers a priority.”
