Better Skills, Best Care - Workforce Design Strategy
To support the Workforce Redesign Strategy, a number of workshops and other initiatives will be advertised as they become available.
Introduction
The availability of a suitably skilled workforce is essential if the Department of Human Services (DHS) is to sustain an effective human services system into the future. The Better Skills, Best Care strategy seeks to encourage health services to explore new and redesigned work roles and provide support to pilot and roll out initiatives. The emphasis is on developing roles that will provide better outcomes for patients, promote greater work satisfaction for staff and contribute to more efficient and sustainable health services.
Poster - Better Skills, Best Care Overview - 2007 (PDF 80k)
Reports
2009
Better Skills, Best Care”: Enabling Nuclear Medicine Technologists: the development of skills required in the Nuclear Medicine Department of the 21st century
Recent technological advances in CT (computerised tomography) and SPECT-PET(single photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography) scanning equipment have combined both modalities into the one machine. However, in current practice, the different scans are performed by separate workforces (radiographers and nuclear medicine technologists respectively) necessitating patients to attend two sessions often in different clinical departments. The training undertaken by recent nuclear medicine technologists and radiography graduates in Victoria incorporates similar core preparation in CT.
This project explored, developed and delivered the additional training necessary to enable a nuclear medicine technologist to provide both diagnostic CT imaging investigations and nuclear medicine scans on the one machine at the one attendance. The new model of practice improves the patient journey and supports more effective utilisation of the skills in the workforce.
This report provides a Clinical Governance Toolkit to support the development and implementation of advanced practice roles into health services.
It specifically describes the advanced practice role (FEES) for speech pathologists. However it has broader application to developing new and amended roles and models of care by other health professionals.
The toolkit provides information regarding operational, financial and clinical governance considerations.
The clinical governance framework evaluates the effectiveness of role changes through assessment of clinical effectiveness, risk management, workforce factors (including scope of practice, training and assessment of competence, credentialing and recognition) and consumer participation.
Victoria's Workforce Redesign Toolkit - Request for tools and case studies
The Service and Workforce Planning Branch, Department of Human Services is calling for health and community services to contribute tools, documented processes and case studies of redesign experiences for inclusion in a ?Redesign toolkit? that can be accessed by health and community services across the State.
Workforce redesign innovations and initiatives have been underway in Victorian health and community services for a number of years. Capturing and sharing the existing practical and technical tools, processes and examples will assist in paving the way for the industry to formalise best practices, and will assist those undertaking workforce redesign in avoiding duplication of effort across the state.
In 2008-09 the department is facilitating the process of consolidating existing resources into a central depository that can be accessed widely by Victorian health and community services. The particular focus of this piece of work is on support roles and advanced practice roles.
Contributions are due by Tuesday 1 December 2009.
Please refer to the attached guidelines for assistance in how to submit case studies or tools.
For tools and case studies that are owned by the health and community service, a signed licence to enable the department to use, reproduce and publish the material is also required, to ensure the organisations? intellectual property and copyright is respected. An example of this pro forma licence deed is attached for your information. This process will only be initiated for material that is selected for inclusion in the toolkit.
Industry participation is crucial to the quality and success of this project, and we would strongly encourage your agency to consider submitting tools and/or a case study for this project. The department views this as an exciting opportunity to promote awareness of the important innovations taking place in Victoria.
Case studies and tools can be submitted via email to workforce@dhs.vic.gov.au or posted to Grainne McCullough, Policy Adviser, Workforce Innovation, Level 20/50 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 3000.
Workforce Redesign Toolkit Flyer
Workforce Redesign Toolkit Guidelines
Workforce Redesign Submission Form
Workforce Innovation Grant Program
The third strand of BSBC Stage 3 began in November 2008, when the Department of Human Services invited submissions for health workforce innovation and reform projects under the Workforce Innovation Grant Program. The Workforce Innovation Grant Program was developed to identify, explore and trial innovations that improve workforce capacity and utilisation and the sustainability of service delivery while maintaining and improving quality of outcomes, efficiency and worker satisfaction. This was a much broader focus than the previous stages and was well responded to by the sector. Submissions were received from a broad range of service settings including hospitals, community health, disability, aged care, indigenous health and primary health, in both a variety of metropolitan and rural areas. Several proposals were for alliances or collaborative projects.
The projects were assessed against national workforce priorities and also reflected key Victorian workforce priorities and directions, including: increasing the use of the support-level workforce; addressing inter-professional historically based models of practice; recruitment and retention strategies for all ages and education levels in a time of a shrinking and ageing workforce; the use of a volunteer workforce, and building alliances and partnership approaches to workforce solutions.
17 projects were selected from across Victoria to be implemented in 2009 under the first round Workforce Innovation Grant Program. The successful proposals fell under one or more of three primary themes of workforce reform: workforce redesign (new and amended roles), workforce restructure and workforce planning. They comprise a range of practical solutions to existing or projected workforce shortages. They address the barriers to innovative change identified in earlier Better Skills Best Care projects and include key elements of success. The projects were selected to test innovation at the local level but have state wide applicability. Rural initiatives are well represented in the selected projects.
Workforce redesign is implemented through supporting work in new health assistant roles and advanced practitioner roles in physiotherapy, radiography and nursing to explore new models of care and have significant sector implications (for the workforce and access to services).
Workforce restructure includes exploration of models of delegation and supervision in innovative interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary ways and the use of technology to fully realise potential workforce capacity
A number of projects support innovative approaches to workforce planning and/or workforce capacity building. Several will test alliance or partnership approaches to workforce that are suitable to different organisational settings and sizes.
A further aim of the Workforce Innovation Grant Program was to engage the consumer voice. Initial work in this area is supported in the second round of projects.
Specific details on each of the successful projects are provided below:
An Information Management (IM) / Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Feasibility Study
Doutta Galla Community Health, North Yarra Community Health and the Western Region Health Centre will utilise an innovative partnership approach to explore joint IM/ICT facilities across the three organisations. A feasibility study will be conducted to explore, identify and if appropriate trial, an innovative workforce configuration in an area of significant skills shortage. The approach will focus on resource sharing, workforce configuration and human resource management, which if feasible, will feed into future workforce utilisation and retention strategies and result in increased capacity to provide a broader/more varied experience to staff as well as improved career pathways and peer support. It is an innovative approach to human resource practice which will make the health and community sector a more attractive place in which to work and to build a long term career.
Health and Community Services Career Pathways for Year 10 Students
i-GAIN Quality Learning Inc, in collaboration with the Baw Baw Latrobe Local Learning and Employment Network, will develop a partnership between eight agencies and across the Community, Disability and Education sectors in the Gippsland region to promote the health and community sector as a preferred career and/or pathway option for the future. This will be achieved through a strategy of collaboration, promotion and the provision of supported work placements for Year 10 students in 10 secondary schools. The project will address health and community services sector workforce shortages by attempting to increase the number of students entering the sector by providing exposure and ?hands on experience? within the health and community service sector through facilitated work placements as well as providing the opportunity for students to undertake a unit of study on preparing for work in the Community Services Industry? under i-GAIN?s Certificate II Community Service Work Training Package.
The Impact of Rapid Roaming User Access on Workforce Efficiency and Attitudes to On Line Documentation in Aged Care
The Centre for Health Innovation and Samarinda, a publicly funded aged care service, will develop a partnership to implement and pilot 'a rapid roaming user' to enable clinical staff to quickly access sessions using a digital smart card and unique pin log in. The project will evaluate the cost benefit of using the system as an alternative to the current practice of manual logins to shared computers by numerous staff. The current practice can take up to three to four minutes for each log in, resulting in time pressured clinical staff using generic logins to save time. This prevents the uptake of e-health systems such as e-ordering or e-prescribing that require a unique login (digital signature) as well as renders audit trails useless. The rapid access addresses this by providing a log in time of sub 10 seconds. This project has the potential to minimise staff time on non-clinical activities, provide significant savings to health services, remove a significant barrier to the uptake of electronic documentation for mobile clinicians and be widely applicable across the sector.
Development of a Patient Support Service Model
Echuca Regional Health (ERH) will develop a contemporary model of staffing that meets the requirements of patients, ERH and the regional setting. A standardised model for support services based on best available evidence that is transferable to other regional settings will be developed. The staffing model will outline the education and training requirements for support roles and build increased flexibility allowing support staff to be utilised in a range of roles and clinical settings both in-hours and after hours, as well as ensure consistently high quality patient outcomes. It will also provide clarity regarding roles and functions. The roles will be complimentary to and integral with the broader health care team and can be applied to other regional services. Lorne Community Hospital (LCH) will develop a model of remote x-ray usage and remote x-ray licensing by nurses that is underpinned by a clinical governance framework to support safe x-raying. The project will upskill four nurses in remote x‑ray usage and develop clinical networks and 'remote diagnostic capacity, infrastructure and governance between LCH, Barwon Health and/or private radiography services. A clinical governance framework will be developed to support safe x-raying including clinical guidelines, clinical audits and review of a random selection of x-rays. In addition, robust referral, remote diagnostic and quality processes will be developed and established. An evaluation to determine the impact of the model in addressing a determined community need will be undertaken.
Nurse Remote X-ray Project
Lorne Community Hospital (LCH) will develop a model of remote x-ray usage and remote x-ray licensing by nurses that is underpinned by a clinical governance framework to support safe x-raying. The project will upskill four nurses in remote x‑ray usage and develop clinical networks and 'remote diagnostic capacity, infrastructure and governance between LCH, Barwon Health and/or private radiography services. A clinical governance framework will be developed to support safe x-raying including clinical guidelines, clinical audits and review of a random selection of x-rays. In addition, robust referral, remote diagnostic and quality processes will be developed and established. An evaluation to determine the impact of the model in addressing a determined community need will be undertaken.
Kyabram Employee Entrance Program - KEEP
Kyabram and District Health Services will use a volunteer workforce to support the recruitment and retention of new staff (allied health professionals, nurses, doctors etc) and students on placement through an induction and mentoring program that orientates the incoming recruit to both the organisation and the community. This program aims to address the issue of social and cultural isolation and improve recruitment and retention across professions. The program will provide recruits and new students with diverse information about the town and services available and initiate partnerships to create a feeling of connectedness with the community. Volunteers will become personal orientation partners for new recruits (and their partners) and will address issues of social inclusion. Community focused orientation kits that incorporate culturally specific information where required will also be developed.
Physiotherapy Orthopaedic Pilot Project
The St Vincent's Hospital Physiotherapy Orthopaedic Pilot Project will pilot a new model of care delivery through the use of advanced musculoskeletal physiotherapists in the post operative review process of total standard knee and hip replacements at 6 weeks, 3 and 6 months to ensure greater efficiency and targeted use of the time of orthopaedic surgeons for new and complex cases. Reviews will follow agreed protocols and patients identified as requiring consultation with an orthopaedic surgeon will be referred on. The project will utilise the skills of advanced musculoskeletal physiotherapists in non-complex procedures to improve the patient journey and to provide a care coordination role.
An Advanced Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist in the Post Operative Orthopaedic Outpatient Review Clinic.
The Alfred will identify and articulate the potential role of an advanced musculoskeletal physiotherapist in the Post Operative Orthopaedic Outpatient Review Clinic, in order to improve access and patient flow. The project will review the current post operative review process and identify those activities which need to be undertaken by the orthopaedic surgeon, those which could be undertaken by an experienced musculoskeletal physiotherapist and those activities that should be undertaken by administrative and other support staff. An identification of required training and credentialing as well as opportunities for implementation and service improvement within the clinic will occur and a new more efficient post operative review process, incorporating these elements, will be established.
Extending the Good Food Matters Program
The Brotherhood of St. Laurence will build on the Good Food Matters project (A Certificate III Meal preparation program for Personal Care Attendants (PCAs) to improve the nutrition of the aged in the community) to develop a new role by training culturally and linguistically diverse mature aged workers with hospitality or cooking experience as Community Meals Attendants (Certificate III). The project aims to investigate and improve service sustainability and workforce capacity with the development of a new care model that enables people with hospitality and cooking experience to gain employment providing nutritional care to older people with complex care needs who are at risk of or are malnourished. The role will be piloted and compared with the PCA model to explore how the Home and Community Care (HACC) Active Service Model can be embedded into the nutritional care service. It is intended to roll out the model to HACC providers and services throughout the sector.
Advanced practitioner radiographer role in BreastScreen Victoria
BreastScreen Victoria will evaluate the feasibility of expanding the role of radiographers to include reporting on screening mammograms in the BreastScreen Victoria Program. Currently, each mammogram is reported by two radiologists, requiring over 7,000 hours of radiology time for film reporting alone each year. The project will address current radiologist workforce shortages at the same time as issues relating to job satisfaction and retention for radiographers. The project will map the current status of the radiology and radiography workforce in BreastScreen Victoria, Victoria and Australia and its current and predicted impact on service delivery; explore the acceptability of the adoption of this role redesign by key stakeholders; develop a business case for a training model for radiographer readers; and provide recommendations on future action for role redesign for radiographers.
Rural allied health workforce retention in Victoria ? measuring the benefits of increased length of stay and reduced staff turnover
Monash School of Rural Health will conduct a state-wide workforce planning study trialling a methodology for measuring the retention of allied health professionals (AHPs) in rural health services in Victoria and determining the true costs of poor retention. The study will compare the retention of allied health professionals in rural communities differing in geographic and population characteristics, ascertain the main determinants underpinning poor rural health workforce retention among AHPs and clearly identify the main determinants of workforce retention that can be influenced by management policy and programs. The study will clearly identify successful retention strategies and model the effects of incentives on workforce retention with an accompanying cost benefit analysis.
Northern Mallee Workforce Project
Sunraysia Community Health Service will establish a partnership between ten local health and community agencies to develop a joint model that will focus on recruitment and retention strategies across all agencies. This will support collaborative and efficient use of workforce and resources across the agencies. The project will build on, and implement the recommendations of the Northern Mallee Workforce Project (NMWP) which undertook extensive research into workforce needs over the past three years in the region and recommended that the recruitment and retention of workforce in the health sector require ongoing attention. A model will be developed for a single universal body, supported by pooled agency resources that will provide specialist recruitment services on behalf of Member agencies and implement the staff retention strategies identified in the NMWP.
Nail Care Service ? the use of foot care assistants
Robinvale District Health will develop a training package and supporting policies and procedures in nail care and train interested community members (including aged care, hostel and nursing staff) as foot care assistants to provide safe, cost effective nail care to low risk client as part of their routine care. This enables more effective use of podiatrists in high risk and complex cases and supports workforce restructure to use allied health professionals in consultative/overseeing role while providing footcare in a timely manner. The foot care assistants will work under the indirect supervision of podiatrists and referral, assessment and intervention procedures and sterilisation processes will be developed. Reducing the demand for this service on podiatrists will free up podiatrist time to provide specialist podiatric care, early intervention and health promotion and education.
Foot Care Clinic; Dysphagia and high risk nutritional needs; chronic disease framework
The West Wimmera Health Service recognises the need for appropriate services within the Hindmarsh, Yarriambiack and West Wimmera Shires. This project establishes and trials transdisciplinary models of practice in three specialist service streams to improve access and management for patients with chronic conditions in the West Wimmera, Yarriambiack and Hindmarsh Shires. The service streams comprise:
1) nutrition and hydration
2) podiatry services
3) chronic disease management framework (initially targeting diabetes)
Stream 1 will create a transdisciplinary dysphagia and high risk nutritional needs clinic through developing a transdisciplinary training and E-learning package in swallowing and prescription of high risk special nutritional requirements to service the organisation and neighbouring health services unable to access speech pathology and dietetic services. Nurses and Personal Care Attendants will be trained in dysphagia screening.
Stream 2 will develop a training package and establish three footcare clinics staffed by trained Allied Health Assistants under clinical supervision, guidance and governance by a podiatrist in a regional centre.
Stream 3 will develop a chronic disease management framework across the regional network and highlight a clearly defined continuum of care - acute, rehab, community care and self management. This framework will be developed for diabetes and then rolled out to other chronic diseases.
Enhancing the provision of clinical supervision for recently trained Aboriginal Health Workers (AHW) in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs)
General Practice Victoria will assess the viability of a clinical supervision program provided by sessional mainstream General Practitioners (GPs) and/or Practice Nurses (PNs) for AHWs in ACCHSs, with a particular focus on the role of AHWs in conducting health checks and non-complex follow up care. Divisions of General Practice will undertake support for the provision of clinical supervision through utilising mainstream GPs and/or PNs as sessional supervisors for AHWs in ACCHSs. The project aims to enhance the role and capacity of AHWs and ACCHSs to provide primary health care services, including health checks, follow-up and case management, thereby reducing the workload of GPs and/or PNs. It will also enable AHWs to consolidate the skills learnt in training and provide a substantive basis for the inclusion of AHWs in national workforce accreditation.
Bendigo Health Care Group - Health Service Assistant (HSA)
Bendigo Health will implement and evaluate the HSA role in the acute and sub-acute areas of Bendigo Health and will develop a comprehensive Certificate III qualification to adequately prepare participants to safely undertake the role. The pilot will engage 8 Year 12 school leavers on a gap year who have nominated a health related university study course for study for 2010. The trainees will be placed into a sub acute or acute clinical environment where they will work under the direction and supervision of the team leader or other registered nursing staff. In addition to the work placement, the students will also complete a Certificate III HSA. The HSA pilot will enhance workforce capacity and health service delivery; improve the patient experience via the additional services of an HSA; increase health professional satisfaction and retention by providing additional unit based support; and expose school leavers to the health system via a gap year program with the aim of influencing career decisions towards health.
Health Assistants
Austin Health will conduct and evaluate a pilot program across two acute wards trialling the use of Health Assistants. The project will measure the effectiveness of a suitably qualified Health Assistants that can safely and competently attend to various aspects of patient care. The focus of the Health Assistants will be on Activities of Daily Living and other related duties. The supervising registered nurse will define these elements in each specialty. The pilot will develop systems and processes for managing the introduction of an assistive role, including the provision of training of a Certificate III with a TAFE provider. In addition, systems and processes to support the staff during the pilot and ensure optimal patient care, will be implemented. The project will build the capacity of staff with the supervision and delegation requirements of assistive personnel and allow for the adoption of an integrated team approach to patient care.
Small Rural Health Services Directors of Nursing (DON) Group Consortia
South Gippsland Hospital will develop a consortia approach among Small Rural Health Services (SRHS) to upskill experienced but aging nurses/staff through accessing modules of training according to identified priority needs across the SRHS. The current provision of education, for example. through postgraduate qualifications, is often unsuitable or inaccessible for staff in SRHS due to commitment requirements and time/distance costs. The project will conduct a gap analysis of the skills needs of SRHS within the region covered by the Consortia and identify skills strengths within the region which are a potential education/training resource to other SRHS. A model with be built (underpinned by formal arrangements between SRHS, for example MOUs) to source/develop modules of education/training from within and outside the Consortia. Modules will be purchased from participating SRHS or external bodies with existing expertise. The program will be aligned with Rural and Isolated Practice Registered Nurse program so that national accreditation for modules can occur for nurses who wish to later pursue that training.
For further information on the Workforce Innovation Grant Program please contact:
Kate Groves
Phone: (03) 9096 7657
Email: kate.groves@dhs.vic.gov.au
Role Specific Projects
As part of Better Skills, Best Care (BSBC) Stage 1 strategy, the department funded 36 role specific projects in 2005-06 to examine locally based opportunities for workforce innovation. These pilots ranged from trialling amended support and professional roles in existing acute, subacute, community and residential services, to the development of a workforce design strategy for new services such as super clinics and an elective surgery centre. The Better Skills Best Care stage 1 final report - November 2007 (PDF file 1.04MB) provides an overview of the piloted roles and project impacts.
As part of the rollout of these new and amended support roles, the department has engaged a number of the pilot leads from the allied health assistant pilots to act as mentors to assist health and community service staff seeking to implement a similar role.
Health and community services planning to implement Cert IV in allied health assistant roles are able to contact these pilot leads to seek practical advice, mentoring support and guidance. A summary of the support roles piloted through BSBC Stage 1 and the contact details for the pilot leads who have agreed to provide mentoring services to other health services seeking to implement similar roles is available. See: Better Skills Best Care Stage 1: Piloted Support Roles & Pilot Contacts - October 2008 (PDF file 76KB)
In early 2008, representatives for the Service and Workforce Planning Branch (SWP) travelled to 12 regional locations and presented information on the development of career pathways, the benefits of the Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance (Cert IV in AHA) qualification, the ability of health services to negotiate training that meets local needs and practical demonstration of role redesign - Workforce redesign overview - October 2008 (PDF file 153KB)
A list of Victorian Registered Training Organisations (RTO) who are able to deliver Cert IV in AHA qualification (as at 31 July 2008) and a brief outline of the units they are offering and details for the appropriate contact are available below.
Better Skills, Best Care Strategy Summary - revised May 2006 (PDF 52kb)
Better Skills, Best Care - Summary of projects (PDF 17kb)
Better Skills, Best Care - Summary of roles 2005/06 (PDF 72kb)
- Three of the pilots in the above summary focus on mental health support roles.
Better Skills, Best Care - Psychiatric service officers pilot (PDF 47kb)
Next Steps
The next step is to inform the broader health sector of the roles piloted. Health services may then wish to consider these roles within their local context for local implementation where appropriate.
The Workforce redesign: implementing change strategy (PDF file 42KB) has therefore been developed to raise awareness, facilitate uptake of the roles and to remove barriers to workforce change, and therefore assist health services that wish to adopt the roles.
Information and Resources
Workforce Redesign Workshop Series November 2007 presentations
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Topic |
Presentation |
| Change Management | Change Management - Steve McDonald (pdf, 98k) Eight Steps to Transforming Your Organisation - Steve McDonald (pdf, 42k) |
| Project evaluation | Workforce Design: Introduction to Project Evaluation Theory and Methods (pdf, 516k) |
| Regulation | Regulation - Anne-Louise Carlton & Tanya Vogt (pdf, 210k) |
| Workforce education and training | Workforce education and training - Lee Ridoutt and Michael White (pdf, 206k) |
| Workforce redesign practical strategies and tools | Workforce redesign practical strategies and tools - Prof James Buchan (pdf, 95k) |
Role based resources
Resources have been developed around many of the successfully piloted stage 1 roles.
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Brief description and requisite base qualifications | Sample Position Description | Resources | Project Presentation |
| Podiatry Assistant ? Caulfield Community Health Service (Podiatry Unit) |  (PDF file 60KB) |
 (MS Word file 45KB) |
(PDF file 265KB) |
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| Allied Health Assistant ? Panch Health Service (Community Paediatrics) |
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| Allied Health Assistant ? Bendigo Hospital (Rehabilitation) |
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| Allied Health Assistant ? Werribee Mercy Hospital (GEM/Rehabilitation) |
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| Allied Health Assistant ? Gardenview House (Long-term Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation) |
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| Allied Health Assistant ? Austin Health (Acute Medical Ward) |
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| Allied Health Assistant ? Monash Medical Centre (Acute Medical Care Unit) |
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| Allied Health Assistant ? Ballarat Base Hospital (Acute Orthopaedic Pre-admission |
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| Allied Health Assistant ? Lorne Community Hospital (Community Aged Care) |
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| Dietetic Support Worker ? Latrobe Regional Hospital (Aged Care Ward) |
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| Ward Pharmacy Technician ? Western Hospital (Neurology & Acute Medical, Respiratory & Cardiac Care Units |
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| Physiotherapist ? Royal Melbourne Hospital (Emergency Department) |
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| Physiotherapist ? Ballarat Base Hospital (Emergency Department) |
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| Physiotherapist ? Northern Hospital (Orthopaedic Outpatient Physiotherapy Screening Clinic) |
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| Physiotherapist ? Austin Health (Orthopaedic Outpatient Physiotherapy-led Clinic |
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| Physiotherapist ? Western Hospital (Orthopaedic Outpatient Clinic |
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| Clinical Pharmacist ? Alfred Hospital (Disease Management Unit) |
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| Radiation Therapist ? Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (East Melbourne ? Radiation Therapy Unit) |
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| Orthoptist ? Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital (Diabetes Monitoring Clinic) |
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| Orthoptist ? Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital (Glaucoma Monitoring Clinic) |
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| Clinical Nurse Consultant (Education) ? Bendigo Health (Emergency Department) |
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Service-wide workforce design
DHS, in partnership with the Victorian Health Services Management Innovation Council (VHISMIC), is exploring opportunities for more systemic and systematic change.
In November 2005, Victorian health services were invited to express interest in hosting a service-wide project to investigate comprehensive workforce design opportunities. As a result, seven hospitals are undertaking Better Skills, Best Care service-wide workforce design projects in the three identified priority service-streams:
- Anaesthetics at the Alfred Elective Surgery Centre
- Intensive care at Geelong Hospital and Dandenong Hospital
- Emergency departments at Kyabram, Warrnambool, Casey and the Austin hospitals.
Sites have identified a number of potential roles to pilot with discussions and consultations currently underway.
Tools
To support and inform the Better Skills, Best Care strategy, DHS accessed the UK Modernisation Agency?s skills mix analysis and workforce design tools. These resources have provided guidance for the process of health workforce role design and were used in each BSBC pilot to help develop amended roles and to implement change. These tools, known as Improvement Leaders? Guides, may be applied to any role in any part of the health care journey.
The aim of the guides is to raise awareness of the different aspects of service improvement and introduce a range of models and ideas. The Improvement Leaders? Guides are best used sequentially.
General Improvement Skills (Foundation ideas)
Improvement knowledge and skills (PDF File 170kb)
Involving patients and carers (PDF File 193kb)
Process mapping, analysis and redesign (PDF File 172kb)
Working with groups (PDF File 151kb)
Evaluating improvement (PDF File 113kb)
Process and Systems Thinking (Basic tools and techniques)
Measurement for improvement (PDF File 142kb)
Managing capacity and demand (PDF File 217kb)
Working in systems (PDF File 203kb)
Improving flow (PDF File 196kb)
Personal and Organisational Development (Further tools and techniques)
Managing the human dimensions of change (PDF File 149kb)
Building and nurturing an improvement culture (PDF File 169kb)
Redesigning roles (PDF File 124kb)
Leading improvement (PDF File 120kb)
Skilling Victoria The part you can play (PDF file 594KB)
These materials have been developed by the Changing Workforce Program in the English National Health Service.
Work analysis report
During 2004 and 2005, consultants commissioned by the department documented and analysed workflows and roles in emergency departments, intensive care units and radiology departments in four public hospitals in metropolitan and regional Victoria.
The consultants used a workflow mapping approach, supplemented with personal interviews and process analysis workshops with diverse groups from the various departments and their ?customers?, including patients, at each of the hospitals.
The final report, below, describes how work is done and by whom, what work is performed and what workforce innovations have arisen to meet local challenges at those participating health services. Not surprisingly the report documents significant and varied changes to workforce roles driven by internal, external and professional factors.
The workflow maps produced for each site (while unique to the participating hospital) provide clear pictures of how patients move through emergency and intensive care services, and were used to inform the service-wide projects described above.
FINAL REPORT - WORK ANALYSIS PROJECT: EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AND RADIOLOGY DEPARTMENT - REPORT TO THE
VICTORIAN DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - June 2005 (PDF File 610kb)
APPENDIX TO FINAL REPORT - WORK ANALYSIS PROJECT: EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AND RADIOLOGY DEPARTMENT - REPORT TO THE VICTORIAN DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - May 2005 (PDF File 118kb)
Questions?
For more information about the Better Skills, Best Care strategy or any of the pilots, contact workforce@dhs.vic.gov.au