The Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW has authored a paper titled “Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Workforce – the Impact of COVID-19”.
In this paper we have taken a comprehensive look beyond COVID-19’s impact, to the historical and ongoing problems of workforce shortages in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health sector. We are advocating for greater support from all levels of government.
Key issues discussed apart from the impact of COVID-19 include:
- chronic short staffing
- contingent workers
- lack of affordable housing
- increased cost of living
- impact of fragmented funding models.
We have presented several possible solutions to the chronic shortages including:
- creating and supporting a dedicated ACCHO workforce,
- supporting health career pathways
- providing funding to enable wage parity of the ACCH sector with government and private sectors.
AH&MRC NSW is passionate about supporting ACCHOs in NSW and will continue striving to develop the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce.
If you have any questions or feedback, please contact Publichealth@ahmrc.org.au
