Summit to foster medical and nursing healthcare workforce of the future

• Industry leaders invited to healthcare workforce summit on August 7, 2023
• Summit to focus on future proofing WA's medical and nursing workforce
• Complements comprehensive recruitment activities already underway

The Cook Government will hold a summit focusing on the medical and nursing workforce by bringing together industry leaders on future proofing the State's frontline health and mental health workforce.

Health and Mental Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson will convene the WA Health Workforce Summit on August 7, 2023 to focus on addressing nursing, midwifery and medical workforce challenges.

This will complement comprehensive recruitment activities already being undertaken by the Department of Health and the hospitals, amid global workforce shortages.

The summit will be followed by a series of roundtables, focusing in on areas of high need, to deliver practical solutions.

Industry leaders including peak bodies, unions, clinician training colleges and registration bodies will be invited to participate in the solutions-driven discussion, which will focus on innovative ideas to continue to grow WA's healthcare workforce into the future.

Bolstering the State's health and mental health workforce to ensure it meets the needs of the community into the future is a key priority for the Cook Government.

The summit will complement ongoing recruitment activities already underway, including the more than $28 million of new attraction and retention initiatives funded through the 2023-24 State Budget.

Comments attributed to Health; Mental Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson:

"We want to work with stakeholders who all have a lever into the workforce pipeline and the capacity to provide practical and sustainable solutions to the challenges we face today.

"Undeniably, we all have a collective responsibility and we want to make sure we have the right mix of staff working in a flexible, safe and supportive environment.

"The Cook Government, together with the Health Department and the Health Service Providers, are already delivering a comprehensive suite of staff attraction and retention initiatives and have grown WA's public sector healthcare workforce FTE by 29 per cent since 2017.

"However, this summit will invite industry leaders to collaborate on additional solutions to continue to foster a strong, dedicated healthcare workforce and entice young people to take up a career in medicine, especially in the regions.