Health Workforce Needs Assessment (HWNA)

RDN’s annual Health Workforce Needs Assessment (HWNA) articulates the current state of the health workforce in rural NSW to meet current and future community health workforce needs. The HWNA forms part of RDN’s response to Department of Health and Aged Care workforce planning contracts. It is is a critical component of designing and activating activities to improve sustained access to essential health care.

Providing an appropriate and sustainable primary health care workforce is most challenging in rural communities. These communities are experiencing inadequate access to comprehensive health care due to factors such as clinician shortage, poor workforce retention and changes to health service facilities.The HWNA identifies the major workforce needs and activities to support improvements in three priority areas:

• Access — improving access and continuity of access to essential primary health care
• Quality— building health workforce capability
• Future planning — growing the sustainability of the health workforce

RDN submits a full and detailed report of Needs Assessment findings to the Department of Health in February of each year. RDN also produces a public summary document of the approaches and key findings of each Needs Assessment, which can be accessed directly from the links below.

Contents:

• 2023-24 Health Workforce Needs Assessment Summary Report

HWNA Archive:

• 2021-22 Primary HWNA Summary Report
• 2020-21 Primary HWNA Summary Report
• 2019-20 Primary HWNA Summary Report
• 2018-19 Primary HWNA Summary Report
• 2017-18 Primary HWNA Summary Report

2023-24 HWNA Summary Report

The 2023-24 Health Workforce Needs Assessment Summary Report focuses on the pressing health workforce needs in rural New South Wales. It seeks to articulate and address these needs by highlighting current challenges and providing actionable solutions to ensure sustainable and equitable access to healthcare for rural communities. It is informed by RDN health workforce surveys, along with input from stakeholders and available datasets. It also advocates for rural health policy and investment and the development of high quality, scalable and sustainable health solutions that respond to local needs.

Download the 2023-24 Health Workforce Needs Assessment Summary Report.

HWNA Archive:

Download and view RDN's previous Health Workforce Needs Assessment Summary Reports.

2021-22 Primary HWNA Summary Report

• The 2021-22 Primary HWNA Summary Report seeks to inform, and guide effective responses by articulating the current state of the primary health workforce in NSW and identifying needs in the following priority areas: access, quality and future planning. It explores factors such as natural disasters and emergencies, internet connectivity and health workforce capability. As part of RDN’s extensive work in community, the report also identifies some emerging concepts that have the potential to improve access to health care in remote, rural and regional areas. It is informed by health workforce surveys, along with input from stakeholders and advisory groups and is designed to play a critical role in the design and implementation of activities to improve sustained access to essential primary health care in rural communities.

2020-21 Primary HWNA Summary Report 

• The 2020-21 Primary HWNA Summary Report has reviewed and updated evidence in relation to the wider primary health workforce. It also includes data on emerging issues including natural disasters and emergencies such as the 2020 bushfires and COVID-19, internet connectivity, health workforce capability and predictors of intention to increase or reduce hours of work among GPs. This new research complements and builds on previous Health Workforce Needs Assessments.

2019-20 Primary HWNA Summary Report

• The 2019-20 Primary HWNA Summary Report focuses on the health workforce needs of nursing and midwifery professionals working in the rural primary health care context. This new research complements and builds on the 2017-18 General Practitioner (GP) and 2018-19 Allied Health assessments, which are reviewed and updated in this report.

2018-19 Primary HWNA Summary Report

• The 2018-19 Primary HWNA Summary Report focuses on the health workforce needs of allied health professionals working in the rural primary health care context and provides an update to the General Practitioner (GP) workforce HWNA Report 2017-18.

2017-18 Primary HWNA Summary Report

• The 2017-18 Primary HWNA Summary Report focuses on the health workforce needs of General Practitioners.