Northern Territory Primary Health Network – Responding to workforce development needs
NCETA:
Professor Ann Roche
Allan Trifonoff
Roger Nicholas
Ms Sally Weir, Northern Territory Primary Health Network
Following on from its work in assisting the Network of Drug and Alcohol Agencies (NADA) to develop a workforce development plan for the NSW NGO AOD sector, NCETA has been commissioned by the Northern Territory (NT) Primary Health Network (PHN) to undertake a comprehensive AOD sector workforce development needs assessment.
The project involves:
- Developing a comprehensive understanding of NT AOD workforce development needs as defined by the sector
- Identifying current workforce development gaps and how they could be addressed and resourced in a coordinated and ongoing basis
- Identifying opportunities for cross-sector training to strengthen referral pathways and responses
In undertaking this work, NCETA will consider the systems factors in which AOD workers are employed. These factors include:
- Interagency arrangements
- Recruitment and retention
- Working conditions and professional and career development
- Information management, knowledge transfer and research dissemination regarding evidence-based practice
- Organisational change management
- Clinical supervision, leadership, mentoring, supervision and workplace support.
To ensure that the unique geographical, historical and demographic characteristics of the NT AOD workforce are addressed, NCETA will:
- Consult with key stakeholders including face-to-face focus groups and key informant interviews
- Conduct an online written submission process
- Use the findings from the consultations identify key themes and issues to help inform the development of practical workforce development strategies and their implementation.