This report will present a healthcare national workforce plan for Australia by comparing with another western Pacific regional country, Japan. Workforce planning is the process through which an organisation achieves its objectives by analysing as well as forecasting the needs. In this context, workforce planning will be critically examined on the current state of healthcare services of Australia and compare it with the present condition of Japan, and lastly, it will identify some ways to deal with the gaps within the existing system. The reason behind choosing Japan for the comparison is that Japanese healthcare facilities are much better than Australia in terms of their service delivery and presence of far superior medical equipment. This could be attributed to the technological proficiency of Japan which is significantly better than that of Australia. This is in addition to in terms of life expectancy rates of an average of 84 years whereas the life expectancy rate in Australia is 80. The expectancy rate is evidence of improved capability of healthcare system in Japan than that of Australia. Historically, the citizens of Japan are considered as the World’s healthiest as compared to the other developed countries.
The needs of workforce planning in healthcare system could be attributed to the rise in demand for services from growing number of patients and other sufferers. The increment in emphasis on provision for maintenance of high standard and quality has been crucial driving factor. This needs the cooperation of all stakeholders associated with healthcare to execute their own responsibilities in an optimal manner. The workforce planning is important in order to empower the employees working in this health and service oriented industry. The planning also assists in formulation of training and development initiatives to better equip the people to handle clients from all kinds of different backgrounds in a uniform way. To establish the long-term sustainability of health care institutions the workforce planning is of utmost significance to document the potential challenges that can occur in future operations.
In order to provide quality healthcare services, there are three levels of government in Australia such as federal, state or territory along with local government (Cashin, et al., 2017). Basically, the federal government plays an indirect role to provide funds to the state level health professionals and subsidies for primary health care services through Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Medicine Benefits Scheme (MBS) (apps.who.int, 2018). Whereas, state or territory governments have the majority of health care responsibilities for public hospitals, community health services, ambulance services, mental health care etc. The government of local region delivers preventive health programs and community health care services through immunisation and regulating food standards.
During 2014 to 2015 the total health expenditures of Australian government was 10.0 % of its total GDP, and the government contributed two-thirds of these expenditures. In the year 2015, the total expenditures of PHI were 8.7 per cent in terms of health spending. Medicare subsidies been provided by the government through its tax system. In this concern, private health insurance (PHI) offers more choices towards service users, and it has faster access in non-emergency cases (who.int, 2018). Government is encouraging private organisation through PHI and some of the health organisations are also have to pay penalty payments for not having the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has initiated Health Workforce Australia (HWA) in order to provide an advanced health workforce to fulfil the needs of Australian Community and meet future challenges in healthcare sector. Through HWA, the health care ministry of Australia has developed a workforce plan to deliver four main areas such as planning, policy and research on current health care condition, clinical education, and new innovation and reform the entire process through recruiting and retaining the international professionals in health care services.
Presently Japan has ranked third in terms of health care services as this country is also well in public health metrics. Universal Statutory Health Insurance System (SHIS) launched by the Japanese government has a significant impact on present health care services (Mossialos, Wenzl, Osborn, & Sarnak, 2016). SHIS has ensured that the quality medical services provided by national and local governments through providing a subsidy to them (Lorenzoni, Millar, & Sutherland, 2017). Currently, more than 1700 municipalities have been operating and organising quality services for their residents (who.int, 2018). In the year 2013, this statutory health insurance system has provided approximately 3500 noncompeting insurers for public, quasi-public along with employer-based brokers (Yuda, 2016). It has been found that the average rate of Japanese to visit doctors is 14 times in each year so the Japanese doctors cannot make any profits (Kutzin, Yip, & Cashin, 2016.). However, the administration costs of medicine are significantly lower than most of the western developed countries.
The health, Labour and welfare ministry of Japan along with the entire health care system in the year 2003 provided advanced services by introducing a system for reimbursement on diagnosis-procedure combination (DPC) (Mahlich, Kamae, & Rossi, 2017). The Japanese system government gives incentives to the health care organisations for providing quality services within a short time through prescribing fewer drugs and tests. In this way, the ministry of health is encouraging healthcare organisations to improve the standard of their services.
In Australia doctors and nurses plays a significant role in delivering quality medical services so that they needs to be highly trained to provide quality services for its population and it is also enhance the social and economic well-being of Australia. The WHO data on Australian healthcare sector has shown that in the year 2011 there were 70,200 doctors across the whole region and 25400 specialist practitioners in the medical field (who.int, 2018). The total number of specialists has been increased from last years which were 32000 doctors in the year 2001. On the other hand, approximately 2,57,200 nurses were working in that region in the year 2011 and 80 % of them had been registered, the average annual increases are 1.4 % in terms of doctor and nurses (physiotherapyboard.gov.au, 2018). In terms of physiotherapy WHO data has shown that there is 29000 registered professional physiotherapists in Australia during the year 2015 while Japan had recruited 26778 physiotherapist in the same year (Med.or.jp, 2015). WHO data has showed that there are 308651 physicians in Japan during 2014 on the other hand there were 200660 physicians in Australia in the same year (Medicalboard.gov.au, 2015).
The data of WHO has shown that there are 12, 71 crores of the total population in the year 2015 Japan, on the other hand, the total population of Australia was 2.83 crores in the same year. On the other hand, WHO has also shown the socio-economic condition of both of these two countries. In the year 2011 Australia has recruited 42, 99200 nurse personnel from the age group of 0-29 which represented 100 %. On the other hand, the total value of nursing personnel is that 1,082,599 in Japan and the ageing criteria were same.
In terms of recruiting pharmaceutical personnel Japan has deployed total 20571800 personnel in the year 2012 and on the other hand Australia has recruited 19,25300 professional personnel in terms of healthcare sector.
In terms of recruiting physicians, nurses and midwives Austria has 304,507,00 personnel in the year 2010, on the other hand, it has been seen in Japan that the health care ministry has recruited 1600000 professionals in this field.
In the year 2012 Australia has recruited 41, 066, 00 Physicians in private sector and 39 74700 physicians in public sector of health system. Whereas Japan has employed physicians 28885000 within the entire system in the same year. While in terms of recruiting nurse personnel Australia has recruited 28, 28800 personnel on the comparison Japan has recruited 16, 29800 nurses in the same year and 147400 medical graduates. In addition Australia has in a total of 213300 pharmacists for its 2.38 crores population on the other hand Japan has recruited 183500 pharmacist for its 12.71 crores citizens. These data has showed that Australia has deployed more health care professionals than Japan, while Japan has more population but still health care system of Japan is more successful than Australia. The reason behind such success is that Japan has more systematic infrastructure than Australia and Japan administration has invested more money to improve health sector.
Four years ago, Japan had celebrated its 50 years of achievement in terms of providing good health care at a low cost towards the citizens, and presently it has achieved full health insurance coverage for the entire population. The government will continue its health improving system through implementing universal health coverage in the field of universal global diplomacy. Although this developed country has been facing serious problems due to low birth rate, rapid ageing of citizens and fiscal pressure for the slow economic development (who.int, 2018). In addition, emerging cost of health care services if the government would not take significant steps to stop the rising price, it may reach from 8 % to 11 % by the year 2015. However, the strong technological capability of Japan has been instrumental in engagement in continual improvement of the healthcare industry, which has been contributory in its advantage over Australia.
Rising cost occurs due to lack of proper structure within the health system, on the other hand, rapid uses of high-cost technologies and high priced generic medicines are the reasons behind emerging costs of health care (Biller-Andorno & Zeltner, 2015). In addition, efficiency and quality have ignored by the health care policymakers of Japan, as their focus was on increasing more healthcare organisations rather than reforming the structure through providing incentives to improve or identify the gaps (Ikegami, 2014). Till now there are no standardized benchmarking for hospitals to enhance their performances. The Japanese government is aware of these challenges, and the ministry of health department is trying to find out ways for the improvement. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan, made a commitment to eliminate all the deficits within the year 2020, he has recently adopted some strategies to decrease spending, reform the entire structure and monetary easing which has been known as ‘Abenomics’ (Hausman & Wieland, 2014).
The healthcare system of Australia is complex in nature. Like the other international countries, Australia will also face issues related to maintenance of health care system in the country owing to the increase in the healthcare needs and requirements of the citizens residing in the country (Akashi, Osanai, & Akashi, 2015). However, based on the information in the previous section of the report, it has been analysed that Australia is striving towards the improvement of the healthcare services for the common people to establish a society which is well-equipped in the arena of healthcare. The first and the foremost challenge that can be faced by the country is related to the demographic issues (WHO Western Pacific Region, 2018). Changes in the demographic trends are expected to be affecting the healthcare sector of the country widely. Another issue which has been recognised to be influencing the healthcare industry of Australia as compared to Japan is the technological costs along with the funding, both private and public, for the healthcare industry of Australia. The public funded healthcare system of Australia has ranked well in international in terms of low mortality rates of infants and high life expectancy.
Although Australia is also facing major challenges like another developed countries in order to improve patient health care. The complex structure of Australia is one of the main reason to raise fund or distribute responsibilities among federal, state and local governments (Laurence & Karnon, 2016). This could be attributed to the prevalence of complicated network of rules and regulations that exists in the nation. In this context technical advancements have improved the patient’s life through diagnosing disease easily. However, the government has to contribute more monetary funds to utilise technically advanced equipment therefore the Australian government has adopted a cost-effective policy to improve the entire health care services without losing more economy (Naccarella, Wraight, & Gorman, 2016). There are lack of fundamental structures and proper links between stakeholders which is essential to integrate national level medical research plans. This is coupled with slow progression of technological advancement in the country has halted its progress. In addition, rapid urbanisation into the entire region has posed significant health issues like asthma, higher rates of obesity along with it has increased rate of suicides (Buchan, Twigg, Dussault, Duffield, & Stone, 2015). Therefore, increased costs of medical technologies, mix expenditures of public and private professionals, rapid increases of ageing population, issues regarding complex structure of health services along with rapid urbanisation (Roche, Duffield, Homer, Buchan, & Dimitrelis, 2015).
In the twenty-first century, the government of Australia must recognise new approaches to prevent such challenges and rehabilitation is needed to effect the health services (McGrail & Humphreys, 2015). The governments need to an emphasis on public consultation and agreement in order to reform the structure of health care system. The focus of the health ministry should be on wide area of medical field rather than fix small parts and proper leadership, courage and wisdom are much-needed criteria to effect the health system (Lawn, Zhi, & Morello, 2017).
|
Content |
Recommendation of WHO |
Recommendation for Australia |
Recommendation for Japan |
|
Gender |
WHO has recommended that health sectors needs to maximise women’s participation into health sector through empowering them. In addition policymakers needs to address gender bias issues within health labour area through reforming the processes. Today women are the key service providers of care services along with humanitarian crisis and mitigating conflicts within this sector. |
Based on the suggestion of WHO, it is noticed that inclusion of diversified work culture is important to enhance involvement of female employees in healthcare sector. The government of Australia should focus on women’s participation in health care services which helps in reducing discrimination, institutionalise women’s leadership skills and eliminate inequalities in education (who.int, 2018). In Australia, it is much needed to reform the process by tackling gender biases. Currently the workforce participation of women is 60.5 % in Australia but in health sector it is 40 % occupied by Australian women (Steel, et al., 2018). Therefore WHO had recommended that the current administration needs to raise the participation level of women through ensuring their safety and empowerment. |
Japanese women have the potentiality to provide significant service in health care services along with in humanitarian crises, so the country officials need to emphasise on it. Therefore, WHO has recommended to promote equal power to female employees in the health sector of Japan. Sharing equal opportunity to female staffs increases the chances of attaining target goals in health care sector. Presently there are just 30% of female students in medical services and 34 % of physicians in Japan (Nemoto, Suzuki, & Kondo, 2018). Moreover lack of female representatives has been found in the leadership position in health and social services sector which needs to be mitigated to support women empowerment. |
|
Job creation |
WHO has emphasised to stimulate investments in order to create more job options especially for youth Australia in the field of healthcare. Expansion of job opportunities would be beneficial to manage the business function in target position. Through creating more job options WHO wanted to enhance right skills of the healthcare professionals as it will support the system to reach right places within a short period of time. |
In order to initiate decent jobs for women or youth population the authority needs to stimulate investment through improving skills of the health professionals so that service can be provided towards the right area. |
In case of Japan WHO has recommended taking urgent actions to foster the demand to maintain sustainable development in health workforce (Biller-Andorno & Zeltner, 2015). Inclusion of sustainable workforce plan would be beneficial to manage recruitment of young age population of Japan. WHO personnel believes that it will provide significant results in health labour market. |
|
Education |
In terms of providing education and training WHO has emphasised to increase investment in order to providing appropriate education and training. |
Reformation of education system of Australia has increased the chances of providing inclusive education system that is important to reach large number of individuals to provide valuable education. In terms of education and training WHO has recommended that the government needs to raise its investment to provide quality education along with lifelong triaging, therefore, it will fulfil the needs of the population of Australia. |
In order to raise education and training quality, it is much needed to prioritise total investment of the policymakers of Japan. In this case WHO has recommended that the existing models of education need to shift away from the narrow conditions. The government of Japan has considered the divided education strategy that is important to share valuable educational facilities to large number of students existing in the country. Japan is also known for its focus on education, but is stressed owing to influx of international students. |
|
Skills |
In terms high quality trainings to increase workers skills WHO has recommended to scale up transformative and lifelong trainings that can match contemporary health needs of citizens. |
In order to enhance skills of Australian professionals WHO has recommended that the ministry of health department of Australia it is much needed to address barriers within the system as the structure of the health care system is very much complex in there (Blank, Burau, & Kuhlmann, 2017). The government of the country has focused on introducing professional training session that is important to manage performance level of workers successfully. |
In terms of enhancing skills among the health professionals of Japan WHO has emphasised on reinforcing effectiveness of health workers of community-based programs in Japan. It will also include all the professional health care workers within the community-based programs. |
|
Health service delivery |
To reform the health services WHO has recommended to focus on efficient provision of affordable, integrated and community based, people centred care. So the policymakers needs to pay special attention towards underserved areas. |
In terms of enhancing the health services WHO has recommended reform it’s service models it is much needed to concentrate on the hospital care services by focusing on preventing unnecessary barriers. In this context WHO has also recommended integrating community-based programs through paying special attention to the underserved areas within this system. In addition, this world-renowned organisation has also emphasised to make the health care facilities more affordable towards the common public of Australia. |
In order to improve the healthcare services WHO has recommended that the country professionals of Japan need to adopt global health strategy to enhance the entire performance of the whole sector. In this condition social business models to reach the underserved areas of healthcare sector of Japan. In addition, public policies along with regulatory bodies need to ensure the interests of health professionals along with protecting the public’s interests in the field of healthcare. The policy is on verge of being implemented into the existing regulation of Japan. |
|
Crisis |
To mitigate crisis within the system WHO has ensured investment in all the national and international health regulatory sectors within humanitarian settings along with public health organisations both for the protracted and acute sectors. Therefore the organisation needs to ensure security of all the health professionals and protect them from conflicts within the system. |
WHO has recommended that Australia needs to improve crisis management strategy to improve functioning of health workforce to detect health care system through responding properly towards the public health risks as well as emergencies (Guzman, et al., 2015). In order to avoid fragile and conflicts health workers along with facilities by health, organisations have been targeted by WHO in terms of Australia. |
In order to avoid crises in healthcare sector of Japan WHO has recommended to ensure its winning strategy that including skills national and international workers within the humanitarian settings as well as public health emergencies (Akashi, et al., 2015). In addition, WHO has ensured the security and protection of all the workers through proving them necessary securities along with facilities within the settings. |
Conclusion
The undertaking on evaluation of existing healthcare framework in Australia has been conducted in comparison to that of Japan which is also a country in the western pacific region. The prime intention behind this has been the presentation of national workforce plan. The analysis has been reflective that Japan has a competitive advantage over Australia in terms of greater technological prowess. This is in addition to the presence of higher ratio of doctors and nurses and other healthcare personnel in the nation which has resulted in deliverance of better and rapid service. The life expectancy has also been documented to be higher with an average of 84 years. The cumulative impact of all these parameters has led to revelation that Japan has illustrated substantial progress in this domain.
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