Health Workforce Scholarship
Programme
Stakeholder Consultation Document
Introduction
The Health Workforce Scholarship Programme (HWSP) was announced in the
2015-16 Federal Budget. This budget measure will streamline existing health
workforce scholarships into a single programme, creating consistency in support and
obligations, while providing greater flexibility to respond to health workforce
priorities.
The Government will regularly review scholarship priorities. In 2015-16, prior to the
programme commencing on 1 July 2016, the Department of Health (the Department)
is seeking input from stakeholders on current health workforce priorities to meet
community health care needs and which students should be prioritised for scholarship
support.
Background
Access to health care in many rural, regional and remote areas of Australia is an
ongoing problem due to the maldistribution of the health workforce. Health education
scholarships can promote the growth of specific parts of the health workforce.
Previously, the Department has offered a number of different scholarships to achieve
this end. Each of the Government’s existing programmes (and sometimes streams
within programmes) is administered differently, with different selection criteria,
weighting and obligations. The table below provides information on the courses of
study, by the level of study, which have been funded in a year.
Nursing /
Midwifery General
Undergraduate
155
Post-graduate
Continuing
Professional
Development
330
Reentry
Clinical
Placements
40
290
18
Midwife
Prescribing
Nurse
Practitioner
Nursing ED
Allied
Health
General
Allied Health
- Clinical
Psychology
180
80
36
100
233
82
144
110
221
75
Medical
Radiotherapy
631
10
10
In addition to the scholarships described above, there are specific scholarships for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, for example the Puggy Hunter Memorial
Scholarship Scheme, which contributes approximately 120 scholarships annually.
Scholarship payments vary across the different schemes for the same level of study.
Depending on the scheme, consideration has been given to (either to prioritise or as a
requirement) the:
 Previous home location of the applicant
 Financial need
 Involvement in, and commitment to, an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
community
 Expressions of commitment to work in rural, regional and remote areas
 Written applications (particularly for post-graduate study) linking the course
to existing work or longer term goals.
Review findings
A review of health workforce scholarships funded by the Australian Government
formed part of the Australian Government Health Workforce Programs Review 2013
(the Review). This made observations and recommendations that are relevant to the
HWSP. In particular, the Review found:

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
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Issues of inconsistencies in scholarship funding arrangements in both
administration costs and levels of support to recipients
Inconsistencies with the values of the scholarships and proportions of
undergraduate scholarships available to each discipline
Evidence of poor retention rates in the first few years of practice for some
professions, indicating that undergraduate scholarships may represent lower value
for money
Necessity to maintain branding of iconic schemes such as the Puggy Hunter
Memorial Scholarships
Stakeholders desire for better aligned criteria for allocating scholarships
That scholarships should align with the most recent evidence, including workforce
projections and the efficiency of scholarships
That financial need would be a preferred criteria.
The full Review is available at:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/work-healthworkforce-program-review.
HWSP
An express aim of the HWSP is to streamline requirements with a single administrator
through an approach to market. It is expected that this will reduce administrative
costs associated with awarding and monitoring scholarships.
There will be a one year rural return of service for most of the scholarship recipients.
Dedicated scholarships will be available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people studying to enter the health workforce, through the Puggy Hunter Memorial
Scholarship Scheme. These scholarships will increase the overall participation of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the health workforce. There will be no
return of service obligation attached to those scholarships.
Priorities already being considered by the Department are based on work including
the findings of Australia’s Future Health Workforce reports, and include geographic
distribution, recruiting and retaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and
addressing the forecast nursing shortage.
Consultation is being undertaken to ensure that the best available evidence is
captured.
Consultation process
The Department would like to invite your organisation to provide views on areas of
particular workforce shortages and how they should be addressed through
scholarships. These shortages may be Australian wide or specific to rural, regional or
remote areas. The Department is also collecting data and information for the purposes
of national workforce projections, including from the National workforce data set,
ABS, AIHW and other published literature.
Scholarships are one of the many tools the Government has available to it to address
workforce issues. The Government is seeking your views on other appropriate
prioritisation criteria for the new programme.
Please consider:
 The courses that should warrant scholarships, both in terms of the profession
they support and the type of support, such as undergraduate, graduate or
continuing professional development
 What might be an appropriate payment amount to participants and what
outcomes could be expected for that payment
 Which criteria should be taken into account when awarding scholarships.
Your organisation is invited to provide a submission that identifies an evidence-based
strategy for targeting scholarships. The submissions must indicate areas of workforce
shortage and demonstrate how scholarships could improve recruitment and retention
in rural, regional and remote Australia. The closing date for submissions is
13 September 2015.
Communication
Please send all communications to david.whelan@health.gov.au and
lydia.mensah@health.gov.au. This includes input or questions.