Commentary The Australian preventive health agenda : what will this mean for workforce development ?

The formation of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) and the National Preventative Task Force in 2008, demonstrate a renewed Australian Government commitment to health reform. The re-focus on prevention, bringing it to the centre of health care has significant implications for health service delivery in the primary health care setting, supportive organisational structures and continuing professional development for the existing clinical and public health workforce. It is an opportune time, therefore, to consider new approaches to workforce development aligned to health policy reform. Regardless of the actual recommendations from the NHHRC in June 2009, there will be an emphasis on performance improvements which are accountable and aligned to new preventive health policy, organisational priorites and anticipated improved health outcomes. To achieve this objective there will be a need for the existing population health workforce, primary health care and non-government sectors to increase their knowledge and understanding of prevention, promotion and protection theory and practice within new organisational frameworks and linked to the community. This shift needs to be part of a national health services research agenda, infrastructure and funding which is supportive of quality continuing professional development. This paper discusses policy and practice issues related to workforce development as part of an integrated response to the preventive agenda. Background The 2008 National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) reflects a shift in public policy and Australian Government commitment to health system reform [1]. The eight areas of performance improvement identified in the Commission's Terms of Reference demonstrate a renewed national commitment to a prevention agenda perhaps mirroring the former Hospitals and Health Services Commission Act gazetted by the Whitlam Government in 1974[2]. The areas of performance improvement identified in the Terms of Reference are [3]: 1. reduce inefficiencies generated by cost-shifting, blame-shifting and buck-passing; Published: 22 May 2009 Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 2009, 6:14 doi:10.1186/1743-8462-6-14 Received: 1 May 2008 Accepted: 22 May 2009 This article is available from: http://www.anzhealthpolicy.com/content/6/1/14 © 2009 Lilley and Stewart; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.