Page 3764 - Week 11 - Thursday, 24 November 2022
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The American Medical Association advocates use of these tools to ensure healthcare organisations are gathering the data needed to better understand what is occurring for their workforce as close to real time as possible. Of course, this work further complements the extensive program we have been undertaking on culture reform in ACT public health services. We know workers need action across the spectrum of their experiences at work and we have been committed to delivering that in partnership with them. Culture reform has resulted in significant policy development and workplace changes to support our workforce to embed a positive culture that further supports their wellbeing.
Numerous constructive initiatives and programs to support staff have been implemented and continue to be embedded across our health services, including the Workplace Resolution and Support Service for CHS and ACT Health Directorate staff established in April 2020; the implementation of the refreshed Respect, Equity and Diversity Contact Officer or REDCO network in CHS and Calvary Public Hospital Bruce; the piloting, in CHS, of the Strengthening a Culture of Respect and Engagement or SCORE civility program to support values-aligned behaviours to improve workplace culture; and the launch of the My Calvary app to transform the way staff engage, work and connect as one team; the establishment of the health leadership development training program for both clinical and non-clinical roles that has already trained more than 250 leaders across our services; and Green Buddies, a new program to support the wellbeing of nursing and midwifery staff in the Women, Youth and Children division at CHS, developed by clinical staff to support the wellbeing of their colleagues.
We have also focused on improving workloads across our health services to bring greater job satisfaction and support wellbeing. In the 2022-23 ACT budget we are delivering on our commitment to bring in an additional 400 health professionals—the most significant investment the ACT government has ever made to hire more doctors, more nurses, more midwives, and more allied health professionals. We are focused on workforce stability through the implementation of whole-of-government policy and modern work practices to increase secure work, recruit to address known leave patterns and decrease reliance on overtime and premium labour. In the 2022-23 budget we have invested almost $2.5 million in the implementation and integration of a modern rostering system at CHS to continue building the supporting functions needed to enhance our workplaces.
As part of addressing specific areas of need, a number of initiatives have been progressed to support the junior medical officer—JMO—workforce. This includes broader work to support the entire medical workforce, but also recognises the needs of JMOs as they transition into the workforce at our public health services. The JMO Blue Buddies program is being developed—a formal colleague-to-colleague support program. CHS is also growing the team of prevocational medical education officers who focus on improving pastoral care, welfare, teaching, research and simulation to ensure adequate support is available to the JMO workforce.
Access to additional external supports is being facilitated through the Employee Assistance Program, liaising with community general practitioners to provide welfare appointments, and ensuring staff are aware of the support lines they can call.
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