South West Health Forum Wrap Up

The population of Roma swelled over the past weekend to welcome over 100 delegates to the annual South West Health Forum, hosted by the Western Queensland Primary Health Network (WQPHN) in conjunction with Health Workforce Queensland (HWQ).

The two-day Forum was designed to bring together health professionals, policymakers and supporting agencies to identify the gaps in the health workforce and skill shortages, and to discuss the array of active initiatives in the area to help support and retain health professionals and their families.

“It’s no secret there are ongoing challenges for regions like the South West with respect to maintaining a health workforce that effectively meets the needs of communities with increasingly complex health requirements,” WQPHN CEO Sandy Gillies said.

Health Workforce Queensland CEO Chris Mitchell said "the demand for services continues to climb and there is a need for additional health workforce, greater flexibility in service and workforce arrangements for remote and rural communities, particularly around shared funding models, staffing and skill mix to maximise the use of multidisciplinary teams".

"Collaborating with communities and local health service providers is how we can best ensure we respond to known and emerging shortages that occur in the health workforce of the South West,” Mr Mitchell said.

We are very pleased to be working with the WQPHN in hosting such a forum and are excited to see what key strategies come out of it to help support those who really need it.