Letters
Health services administration Medical practices
Volume 193 - Issue 8

Lost opportunities with Australia's health workforce?

Authors:  Tony Badrick, Leslie Burnett, Peter E Graham and Peter P Vervaart

Med J Aust 2010; 193 (8): 484. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb04010.x
Published online: 18 October 2010
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To the Editor: The article in the Journal by Leach and colleagues highlights workforce shortages in the Australian health care sectors.1

The authors identify 12 clinical professions for which data from the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics census show poor retention rates, and warn of the implications for the Australian population of these future shortfalls in the health workforce. However, in our opinion, the imminent workforce shortage in the pathology sector (rather than that in the higher profile specialties) is likely to represent the vulnerable point of first failure of the health care system in Australia.

Pathology and diagnostic laboratory medicine are major areas in the health system, with about 70% of medical decisions being based on laboratory test results.2 About 13% of Australia’s federal health budget is allocated to pathology testing, and a similar percentage is allocated from state health budgets. Within pathology laboratories, medical scientists form the single largest professional group, although they are usually unrecognised and overlooked in workforce surveys, as is the case in the article by Leach and colleagues.

Medical scientists face these same problems of poor retention within the health workforce, leading to the risk of future shortfalls in laboratory capacity and an inability to provide adequate diagnostic support for the medical system.

The potential laboratory capacity shortfall has been accelerated by government policies leading to reduced funding for pathology, and the consequent failure to invest in workforce recruitment, training and development. Such an approach may deliver short-term savings, but is leading to an unsustainable environment due to the lack of an appropriately qualified and trained workforce.3

This problem is not restricted to Australia, but highlights the need for a sustainable and long-term approach to ensuring access to relevant health resources for all Australians.

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