As the ACT’s population continues to grow, the Government is growing and supporting our healthcare workforce with investment in 100 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) positions in 2022-23, growing to more than 170 FTE in 2023-24.
Through the investments in this year’s Budget, the Government will deliver on our commitment to employ 400 additional health care workers in this parliamentary term. It is the most significant investment the ACT Government has ever made in hiring even more health care professionals to support the community and each other.
The Government will provide $16.4 million to expand the allied health workforce and to support more services after-hours, delivering more physiotherapists, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists and other allied health professionals.
This investment will improve patient recovery, reduce hospital length of stay, improve emergency department performance and reduce readmission rates.
A further $3 million will expand the Nurse Practitioner workforce at our five nurse-led Walk-in Centres, to deliver better healthcare closer to home and deliver on our election commitment to have a Nurse Practitioner available at all Walk-in Centres.
The Government is also committed to making our health services a safe and supportive place to work. The Budget includes $7.2 million dollars to support our workforce with a focus on psychosocial wellbeing and addressing occupational violence. This work will deliver the next step of the Nurses and Midwives: Towards a Safer Culture Strategy with a significant increase in resources to embed a positive safety culture across our health services.
Additionally, the Government is investing in the delivery of system-wide workforce planning and strategy development to ensure that the ACT Government, local universities and health services are well placed to identify and grow our health workforce now and into the future.
The Government will invest more than $50 million to support implementation of the Digital Health Record, including by ensuring frontline health service staff can undertake training while minimising service disruption. This project will transform the day-to-day experience of our frontline healthcare workers, making their work easier and more efficient – giving them more time to deliver the exceptional care they are committed to and leading to better outcomes for consumers.
The ACT Government is developing a further multi-year investment in health workforce wellbeing and recovery that will support our ACT public health workforce with the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic now and into the future. This investment will be co-designed with our workforce, informed by the Health and Wellbeing Summit on 1 August and finalised as soon as practical.
Quotes attributable to Chief Minister Andrew Barr:
Health is the largest area of ACT Budget expenditure. Canberrans can trust that we will continue to invest in our healthcare system as our city grows. We did it during the worst of the pandemic, and we will continue to do it into the future.
Quotes attributable to Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith:
More nurses and midwives, more doctors, more allied health professionals and more support staff will strengthen our workforce to deliver the health services our growing population needs.
This investment in supporting timely discharge from hospital, improving emergency department performance, and enabling better patient recovery will mean a healthier Canberra.
The ACT Government is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our frontline health professionals. We will continue to work with staff and their unions to ensure our health services are positive places to work, so they can do what they do best – delivering high quality care for Canberrans.
The Digital Health Record, which will go live in November, has been built with strong engagement from health professionals and will be a game changer for our frontline workers. Ensuring everyone is fully trained and engaged in this transformational project will be a key priority in coming months.
