Workforce Innovation and ReformHeader Image

National Common Health Competency Resource for the Australian Health Workforce

National Common Health Competency Resource

National Common Health Competency Resource for the Australian Health Workforce

To meet the rising demand for health services for all Australians, it is essential to identify new and different ways of using the skills of our existing health workforce. It is not efficient or sustainable to solely determine health workforce requirements on the basis of traditional role groupings. A holistic and integrated approach, that considers how the available skills of the workforce can best be used to meet individual consumer and community health need, is required.

To progress this, Health Workforce Australia has commenced development of a National Common Health Competency Resource for the Australian health workforce. The Resource will identify and articulate competencies that are shared across the health workforce in order to facilitate and support workforce innovation and reform activities in the health and education sectors that:

  • improve the use of available skills across the health workforce;
  • increase flexibility in work design and redesign;
  • improve translation of competencies across occupational groups, leading to efficiencies in training and enhanced transferability of skills;
  • encourage needs-based planning, matching workforce capability to health consumer need.

The National Common Health Competency Resource will build on innovations that have been trialled and proven, including expanded workforce scopes and interprofessional education. The Resource will not replace existing competency or practice standards of the professions. Instead, it will overlay these standards to illustrate areas of commonality and distinction. Stakeholder engagement activities will inform and further shape the development and implementation of the Resource.

The National Common Health Competency Resource will be available for use by a range of organisations, including education and training providers, state/territory health departments, regulatory bodies, and professional associations, as well as the health workforce.  The project fact sheet is available in pdf format below:

For further information on the National Common Health Competency Resource, or to provide your feedback, please contact the Project Manager:

Background information