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Steady progress made with cancer control A STOCKTAKE of New Zealand's cancer control workforce has found steady improvements in the past five years but indicates that gaps still exist.The stocktake covers workforce areas across the cancer control continuum from primary prevention to palliative care. It draws on a range of sources, providing the greatest detail on the non-surgical specialist cancer workforce. Ministry of Health Principal Advisor for Cancer Control, Dr John Childs, says the stocktake provides a good starting point for identifying future workforce requirements. "This work highlights the progress that has been made; for example, the growth of the non-surgical cancer workforce over the past five years. However, this growth still lags behind what's needed to keep up with the increasing number of people with cancer. "Co-ordinated national and regional planning will be required to ensure further progress is made," Dr Childs says. As well as numbers of staff, the stocktake also looks at the skills and knowledge needed to improve cancer services, and the education and training required to support the workforce. "Some of the areas highlighted by the stocktake are already being addressed as part of the Cancer Control Action Plan", says Dr Childs. The stocktake shows that some District Health Boards (DHBs) have faced periodic recruitment and retention difficulties in specialist areas. Dr Childs says boards and tertiary education organisations need to work together to maintain and improve training programmes in areas such as radiotherapy and medical physics. The stocktake also describes a range of issues for the nursing, surgical, pathology and radiology workforces, which require more detailed investigation. Likewise, more information is required on the community-based cancer workforce, particularly the skills and knowledge required to improve early access for Maori, Pacific and rural people. Dr Childs says a range of cancer workforce activities are underway at a national or DHB level as part of the Cancer Control Action Plan. These include targeted workforce development funding to establish more trainee positions in medical physics and palliative medicine. Some DHBs are also implementing or planning cancer care co-ordinator roles to support patients and their families. Other areas include a study of the cancer and palliative care nursing workforce to establish a national education and training framework; $2 million a year to scope and develop workforce development programmes in colonoscopy and colorectal cancer surgery; and $2 million a year to develop and pilot initiatives to reduce inequalities, targeted at Maori and rural patients. A number of workforce development programmes are continuing in breast and cervical cancer screening, and tobacco control, as are sector-wide health workforce programmes such as the Health Workforce Careers Framework, Health Workforce Information Programme and the DHBNZ Future Workforce project. Dr Childs says developing career pathways for health workers such as nurses, radiographers and pharmacists could help improve workforce retention in these areas. The Ministry of Health and DHBNZ are working to develop a career framework for the health workforce, and have recently released a discussion document for consultation. |
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