Uncomfortably aware that several decades of talk about the need for health workforce planning in its Region had produced neither plans nor planning expertise, the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) embarked in the early 1990s on a project to develop both. The WHO Regional Training Centre in Sydney produced a training manual and a 'do-it-yourself' computer-based workforce planning workbook (the WPRO/RTC Model) which linked projected staffing requirements to training intakes and outputs, estimated future staffing and training costs and scheduled required inputs from external development assistance agencies. The workbook printout is a readable and easily understood 10-20 year workforce plan, incorporating both text and tables.
Introduced to national health authority representatives at a series of WPRO-supported inter-country workshops, the workbook generated both interest and enthusiasm, but not much 'doing-it-yourself'. Follow-up in-country visits by consultants working with local planning staff led to the production of national workforce plans in all of the independent Pacific island countries, Cambodia and Viet Nam, and adaptation of the model in China for provincial and county level planning..
This paper reviews lessons learnt regarding getting decision-makers to recognise the nexus between workforce planning, overall health service development and operational policy; data collection and collation; moving beyond a simple personnel:population ratio approach; and adjusting the model to suit local circumstances. The project has identified some emerging and worrying trends in health workforce development. The need for consistent, sustained technical assistance which reflects long and wide experience in health service development and management is underlined.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: 1.Understand the rationale and structure of the WPRO workforce planning development project. 2. Describe the main features of the WPRO/RTC workforce planning model. 3.Form an opinion regarding the usefulness and applicability of the project approach and the planning model in developing workforce planning expertise. 4.Be cognisant of some problems in the development of health workforce capability and health workforce development generally in a number of countries other than the USA
Keywords: Workforce, Planning
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Office of the Western Pacific Region, WHO and the WHO Regional Training Centre, Sydney
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employed as consultant