Health Workforce Advisory Committee Summit Meeting

March 2003

Approximately 150 participants with expertise and interest in New Zealand's health workforce were invited to take part in the Summit Meeting held at the Quality Hotel, Wellington, 26-27 March 2003. Participants included representation by consumers, service providers, education providers, health practitioners, policy-makers, professional associations and regulatory bodies from across the priority areas identified in the Health Workforce Advisory Committee's New Zealand Health Workforce: Framing Future Directions Discussion Document.

The six priority areas identified in Framing Future Directions were:

addressing the workforce implications of the Primary Health Care Strategy
promoting a healthy hospital environment
educating a responsive health workforce
building Maori health workforce capacity
building Pacific health workforce capacity
building the health and support workforce capacity for people who experience disability.

The purpose of the Summit was to assist the Committee in formulating recommendations to the Minister of Health on directions and priorities for the health workforce.The Committee wishes to ensure that the recommendations it makes to the Minister have been discussed and debated in depth by key stakeholders, as they will form the basis of subsequent strategic workforce development.The Summit also provided a venue for the Committee to present the findings of the consultation it initiated with stakeholders through Framing Future Directions and to engage support for the next stage of health workforce development.

There is urgency among stakeholders about the need for health workforce development and support for the use of processes that engage and involve all levels of the health sector, in collaboration with other sectors.There is considerable goodwill among stakeholders towards working together and being involved in the process of workforce development.The Summit provided an opportunity to harness this goodwill and to reach agreement about the draft recommendations for health workforce development.