Health Workforce Planning Group

The aim of the group is to provide an evidence-based approach to planning and maintaining the primary care workforce.

The Health Workforce Planning Group is a small but active group with collaborations locally, nationally and internationally.  

Our research is interdisciplinary; it involves education, health economics, biostatistics and epidemiology. Our aim is to provide an evidence-based approach to planning and maintaining the primary care workforce. This work consists of research into health career decision-making, the role of education and training, and new approaches of determining future workforce requirements. Our recent projects include: 

1. Developing and applying a needs-based planning model for the general practice workforce in Australia.
2. Estimating the future supply of nurses in general practice.
3. Understanding the cost and effectiveness of health workforce planning in Australia.

The Health Workforce Planning Group has a strong translational element, as evidenced by our contract research with key organisations in the health workforce—including Health Workforce Australia, the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency and Western Australia GP Education and Training. Our research has informed decisions and debates on general practice training incentives, rural bonded placements in medical school, medical application support, and marketing of rural practices to recent general practice graduates.