Australia in need of skilled healthcare professionals

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Created on Thursday, 29 December 2011 15:36

Written by Editorial staff

The increasing demand for experienced healthcare professionals in Australia has been placing strain on the medical system across the country.

While in some cases the industry has faced difficulties due to differences in budget restraints and spending requirements, others have been challenged by what is known to be a lack of qualified personnel willing to move to more remote areas.

Earlier in the month the ABC reported that there were more than 80 positions for general practitioners available in regional parts of Western Australia.

Speaking on the extent of the obvious shortage, the chief executive of Rural Health West Belinda Bailey explained that official measures had done little to alleviate the problem.

Bailey asserted: "WA's statistics in terms of the percentage of GPs per head of population, remains the worst in rural locations in the country."

She went on to say that the state was currently experiencing a serious lack of qualified medical personnel - with an approximate 10 per cent gap between the number of general practitioners available and the minimum standard prescribed to provide basic medical services.

"The reality is that we have a critical workforce shortage in rural and remote WA and we all need to do more to focus on attracting the future workforce and retaining the existing workforce," said Bailey.

A similar situation has been found to exist in the nursing sector - with an increase in demand for basic healthcare services meaning that some institutions are finding themselves under-staffed.

The growing Australian population certainly plays a part in this situation - but so too does the rate of attrition amongst professional medical staff.

As older staff members withdraw from the workforce, the turnaround between positions becoming vacant and a new employee being hired to take on their role can be quite lengthy - and in some cases can be left empty for extended periods of time.

On top of that, the more seasoned workers take with them a wealth of experience that is hard to replace.

For healthcare institutions and international practitioners, this combination of circumstances means that there could be some real opportunities for sponsorship arrangements to be used to meet these demands.

Registered migration consultants are able to give medical organisations the advice they need to make an informed hiring decision.

Skilled migrants involved in the healthcare industries can also approach immigration agents to receive a breakdown of the formal processes required to meet the sponsorship guidelines.