Workforce reforms will threaten quality of healthcare - ADAVB tells Senate inquiry

The quality of healthcare services will be threatened by radical workforce reforms proposed by the National Health Workforce Taskforce (NHWT), the ADAVB said this week in a submission to a Senate Inquiry.

The Inquiry is into the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for Doctors, Dentists and other health workers. ADAVB made the submission from a State perspective while ADA Inc., in a separate submission, gave a national perspective.

In welcoming the establishment of a single national register of dental practitioners, and a national dental board responsible for regulating all dental service providers consistently across the nation, ADAVB stated that the Branch’s chief concern is evidence that the changes are being used to advance perceived ideologically driven workforce reform agendas.

The submission contends that if these workforce reforms are implemented, then there will be a massive increase in the number and proportion of treatment failures and adverse events, and that:
· Arguments that the entire health care system needs to shift to a ‘models of care’ approach are wrong. The argument only really applies in large institutions like hospitals and nursing homes, chiefly in relation to medical services.
· The creation of a universal healthcare worker with only a core set of competencies and no specialised skill to be able to deal with more complex matters within a field of professional service will not solve the problem of health workforce shortages.
· The so-called “professional silos” are actually specialised ‘bodies of knowledge’ which should not be dismantled.

ADAVB said that these proposals were “dangerous and a most serious threat to public health and safety. Regrettably, we have formed the view that these proposals lie at the heart of the workforce reform program being implemented in conjunction with the national registration and accreditation scheme”.