Up to $80,000 is available to conduct research to understand rural health workforce issues, evaluation of health workforce reform and costing of clinical training.
Background
The HWA program of work promotes the implementation of research-informed changes to education, international recruitment and retention and current configurations of the health workforce.
HWA has identified a number of priority themes within its ongoing work program where further understanding and intelligence is being sought at this time to further progress the achievement of the strategic objectives of the organisation.
As part of the organisation’s ongoing program of investment into collaborative research, HWA is now seeking expressions of interest (REOI) from researchers to provide research services in 2012-13 to address one or more of the research topics identified under each of the priority themes at Attachment 11.
The development of a longer term strategic research program, that builds and extends on HWA’s existing research investment, is planned for subsequent years.
Objectives
The objectives of the HWA Strategic Research Program are to:
- assess the interest and availability of prospective consultants to meet HWA’s requirements;
- enable prospective consultants to outline their proposed solutions to meet HWA’s requirements; and
- facilitate an assessment of the responses and identify the responses that best meet HWA’s requirements.
The HWA Strategic Research Program is limited to Australian and New Zealand entities that conduct health-workforce related research in the public, non-government and/or private sector.
Eligible respondents may submit a research proposal for one or more of the research topics. Provision has been made for a total of up to 12 research proposals under this HWA Strategic Research Program.
The HWA Strategic Research Program is the first stage of a possible two stage procurement process. While respondents should provide information on the price for each research proposal as required by Attachment 7, respondents whose responses are short listed as part of the HWA Strategic Research Program process may be invited to submit a quotation to HWA as part of a Request for Quotation (RFQ) process. The specification of price (excluding specification of travel and accommodation cap) for each research proposal must not exceed $80,000 (inc. GST).
However, HWA may at its sole discretion adopt one or more of the following approaches:
- seek more information from some or all respondents to the HWA Strategic Research Program;
- select a short list of respondents who will be invited to respond to a subsequent RFQ;
- proceed directly to negotiations with one or more respondents to provide the research services;
- enter into a contract with a preferred respondent to provide the research services; or
- choose not to proceed to an RFQ or any further procurement processes.
- HWA does not warrant or guarantee that an RFQ will be released by HWA in respect of the research services or that HWA will proceed to procure the research services.
- HWA invites suitably qualified consultants to submit a response to provide the research services required.
- Each research proposal is to specify that the research services, including provision of key deliverables, must be fully completed in the 2012-13 financial year.
Research Themes
UNDERSTANDING RURAL HEALTH WORKFORCE ISSUES
Topic 1. International Health Professionals
Executive Sponsor: Claire Austin, Executive Director, International Health Professionals
Study of international health professionals to understand their career pathway and choices, with particular focus on the nature, duration and quality of their rural experience and the identification of the barriers and enablers contributing to retention in rural practice. This will complement and enhance information being gathered by HWA and inform attraction, retention and recruitment programs.
Topic 2. Regional Workforce Planning
Executive Sponsor: Ian Crettenden, Executive Director, Information Analysis and Planning
Development of a national population needs based planning model for the primary care workforce that can be applied to regional and local area workforce planning and has policy coherence with aggregate workforce planning methods of HWA.
Topic 3. Alignment of Rural Workforce Incentive Programs
Executive Sponsor: Claire Austin, Executive Director, International Health Professionals
Map the nature and scope of rural workforce incentive programs currently managed through the health and education sectors and assess alignment of objectives and policy coherency, particularly in relation to their contribution to rural workforce re-distribution. This will inform HWA’s investment in rural incentive programs.
EVALUATING WORKFORCE REFORM AND INNOVATION
Topic 4. Understanding the Context for Implementing Workforce Reform
Executive Sponsor: Claire Austin, Executive Director, International Health Professionals
Identify the key factors to be considered in the development and effective implementation of government workforce initiatives recognizing the different business context and related operational implications (e.g. service delivery, workforce development) for the public, non government and private sectors.
Topic 5. Role Substitution Modelling
Executive Sponsor: Ian Crettenden, Executive Director, Information Analysis and Planning
Development of a sector (e.g. cancer, mental health, aged care) based workforce planning methodology that enables the short and longer term capacity, cost and quality implications of role redesign and substitution of relevant workforce groups in the sector to be estimated. The methodology will take account of both direct implications for the sector and potential ‘knock-on’ implications for workforce capacity in other sectors.
Topic 6. National Scaling of Local Innovation
Executive Sponsor: Ian Crettenden, Executive Director, Information Analysis and Planning
Develop an approach to modelling national implications of local workforce innovation and reform aimed at improving workforce capacity and productivity that can be integrated into the aggregate workforce planning methods of HWA, including specification of standardised minimum data requirements for collection at local trial sites to facilitate this modelling.
Topic 7. Impact of Leadership Development
Executive Sponsor: Etienne Scheepers, Executive Director, Workforce Innovation and Reform
Develop a methodology to assess the impact on workplace and outcomes improvement from investments in leadership development programmes.
Topic 8. Impact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Back to School Programs
Executive Sponsor: Etienne Scheepers, Executive Director, Workforce Innovation and Reform
Develop a methodology to assess the impact on health workforce participation of investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘back to school’ programmes.
MEASURING AND COSTING CLINICAL TEACHING AND TRAINING
Topic 9. Medical Specialist Training Analysis
Executive Sponsor: Ian Crettenden, Executive Director, Information Analysis and Planning
Undertake an analysis of the stock and flow of medical specialist trainees in order to quantify the distribution of the duration trainees participate in programs and understand the key contributing factors, including identification of specific barriers and enablers for completion of training programs.
Topic 10. Understanding Clinical Training Practice Patterns
Executive Sponsor: Ben Wallace, Executive Director, Clinical Training Reform
Develop understanding on maximising efficiency of clinical training through a study of the variance in the:
– clinical training requirements from universities within professions, and
– cost and quality across training providers, including an assessment of the implications for work readiness.
Topic 11. Understanding Clinical Training Supervision
Executive Sponsor: Ben Wallace, Executive Director, Clinical Training Reform
Study to provide greater understanding how clinical training supervision is provided in hospital and out-of-hospital settings.
Closing Date
The closing date for the submission of expressions of interest is 4:00pm, local time in Adelaide on Tuesday 12 June 2012.
Expert Assistance
For assistance in increasing the competitiveness for your response to the HWA Strategic Research Program, contact us to discuss further.
