Analyzing Health Workforce Immigration Policies in Australia

This report provides an analysis of health workforce immigration in Australia, examining current practices and policies concerning international health worker recruitment. It references the WHO's global code on the recruitment of health professionals and explores the reliance on skilled migrati...Read More

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Healthcare
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive summary
The debate over the self sufficiency of the health workforce has been one of the rising debate.
In Australia the activities related to the international recruitment are generally conducted
through the commonwealth funded international recruitment strategy and the international
recruitment program. Together with these, the territory and the states of Australia seek to
recruit the health professionals predominantly towards the rural and the remote regions. This
assignment aims to illustrate the existing practises and policies within the Australia for the
acceptance of the international health care workers in the health care system of Australia. The
assignment highlighted the context of the report by WHO regarding working for growth and
health and the investments in the health workforce

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Present status of international health worker immigration for meeting the workforce supply in
Australia.....................................................................................................................................3
Current Australian governmental policies on the immigration of international health worker. 6
Sustainability of the current policies..........................................................................................7
Consideration while implementation for the reduction of the negative effects of the migration
of the health workers..................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
In the May 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) global code regarding the
recruitment of the health professionals was being approved by World Health Assembly. This
code sets out a wide range of ethical and practical aspects regarding the international
recruitments of the health workers of the country that includes the emphasis over the
sustainability for the health workforce (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019).
This assignment aims to illustrate the existing practises and policies within the Australia for
the acceptance of the international health care workers in the health care system of Australia.
The assignment highlighted the context of the report by WHO regarding working for growth
and health and the investments in the health workforce. The assignment illustrates over the
recommendations for the sustainable development goals of the country that relates to the
international migration.
Present status of international health worker immigration for meeting the
workforce supply in Australia
The assignment explains the level of reliance of the Australia regarding the
international migration of the health workforce. The scale of the skilled migration to the
country of Australia has increased rapidly in the current years constituting more than 68.89%
of the permanent intakes . Among the year 2004 and 2009 more than 379,161 arrivals in the
country were shortlisted through the generation skilled migration (Australian Government,
2019). Through out the decade, the skilled migration has set to remain a national priority for
the country with some of the strong relevance for the health professionals. As per the reports
by the department of the citizenship and immigration, the policy of Australia is generally
driven by three of the P’s; Population, Participation and Productivity. The concept of the
immigration in Australia is deemed towards the contribution through the increase the working

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age population by inviting and bringing more people in the health care sector of Australia and
thus raising the workforce participation together with the improvement of the productivity
having strong emphasis on the skilled migration (Negin et al., 2013).
The medical health professionals enter the workforce of Australia by several of the
immigration pathways among which first five involves the workers who are trained overseas.
The table below highlights the countries from where the majority of the migration of the
health care professionals to Australia happens.
Figure-1
Source: (WHO, 2014)
In Australia the activities related to the international recruitment are generally
conducted through the commonwealth funded international recruitment strategy and the
international recruitment program. Together with these, the territory and the states of
Australia seek to recruit the health professionals predominantly towards the rural and the
remote regions. According to Sanggaran, Haire & Zion (2016) overall the country of
Australia is a net importer of the health professionals, specifically the medical professionals.

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The overseas trained doctor who get their primary qualification from overseas consist a
significant proportion of the Australian medical and health care professionals .
Figure-2
Source – (WHO, 2014)
According to the Australian Institute of welfare and health, by the year 2009, more
than 25% of medically employed professional of Australia was being trained overseas. This
furthermore includes 6% of the doctors from the United Kingdom and Ireland, 3% from New
Zealand and more than 6% from some of the other countries (Parliament of Australia, 2019).
The figure above highlights the classic migration paradigm in Australia where the majority of
the migrants of the health sector are currently admitted on temporary rather than the
permanent basis.

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Figure –3
Source- (WHO, 2017)
The figure above highlights the increasing of the immigration of nurses and midwives
in the country which has not only covered the shortage in the clinical health workforce but
has overflowed the requirement.
Current Australian governmental policies on the immigration of
international health worker
The country, Australia is the signatory to a number of voluntary codes of practice that
is related to the recruitment and the joining of the internationally trained professionals in the
field of health. These codes includes the world health organization (WHO) global practice
over the international recruitments of the health personnel (2010), the commonwealth code of
practise for the international recruitment of Health workers (2005-2006) and the pacific code
of practises for the aims of the recruitment of the health workers (2010)
From the historical context, the Australia’s first federal immigration portfolio was
created in 1945. It is furthermore important to note that there lies four categories that exist

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under the skilled component of the migration program of the country. These includes the
general skilled migration, the employer nomination, the business skills migration and
distinguished talent. The health care profession falls under the category of the general skilled
migration. The recent alteration to the skilled stream of the migration programs of the country
have been furthermore designed for the shift of the balance of the program that is away from
the independent skilled migrants (Buchan, Naccarella & Brooks, 2011). It is furthermore to
be noted that there lies very limited information regarding the immigration of the allied health
professionals. The national data sets are very much immature regarding the group of the
health professionals. In case of the allied health professionals that is subject to the NRAS data
sets is aimed to develop over the time.
Sustainability of the current policies
The government of Australia via the department of the citizenship and immigration
aims input from some of the other Australian government departments, the relevant industry
and the sectors of education and the skills for the development and the improvement of the
occupation list of the priority skills (WHO, 2019). The potential migrants who have their
skills that are perceived to be in the demand in the country of Australia, can furthermore
additional points towards the entry visa. The health care professionals including the doctors,
the nurses and the many allied health professionals are also included on the list.
As per the data and the reports on the recent years , the department of immigration
and citizenship has initiated in the development of the new visa system that came under full
operation during the year 2012. This procedure reduces the visa subclasses up to the rate of
50 percent. According to the revised and the changes migration policy, the health
professionals who may have been eligible for these visa will have to meet the conditions of

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the other visa subclasses and will have to apply under the scheme of the subclass 457
(Australian Government, 2019).
The new and the improved system replaced the process of the application of visa for the
groups specifically those who have been immigrating under the skilled migration and the log
stays visa classes. This procedure was trailed or piloted in the month of July or august 2012
and the results are generally being assessed by the department of immigration and citizenship.
Table - The recent growth in the health work force population by the migrants in Australia
Source – (WHO, 2017)
The figure above illustrates the changing patterns of the migration policy in Australia
and how it affects the heath care workforce through the years. The table explains the
increasing figures of the nurses, medical practitioners, the midwives the dentist, pharmacists
and other allied health professionals who have their initial qualification from the overseas
countries (Bidwell et al., 2014). The current policies are sustainable as of now after the

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changes since the Australia had been suffering from the loss and the lack of proper workforce
in the health sector which had been impacting over the health and the wellbeing of the
country, thus affecting the country’s stability towards the UN sustainable development goals.
Consideration while implementation for the reduction of the negative
effects of the migration of the health workers
According to the national reports, the Australian health bureaucrats revealed that
international migration is one of the major factor behind the shortage of the health workforce.
The benefits from remittances for the outmigration and the stakeholders together with the
scoping report indicated the system of training (WHO, 2019). The loss of the national
investments together with loss and deskilling through the global curriculum are the two major
factors towards the negative effects of the migration. Some of the recommendation that the
government of Australia must consider for the aim of the reduction of negative impacts of
the migration of the health workers includes the following.
The privatization of the skilled migration - the government of the country must privatize the
skilled migration programme of the country. Tis will help the sponsored migrants to be
guaranteed with the process of the priority in case of the application to migrate regarding the
basis of the traditional points tested (WHO, 2017). Furthermore this would enable the
applicants who are lacking sufficient points to upgrade their skills if desired. The migrant
health professionals will furthermore get prioritized during the process.
The preferences for the temporary as compared to the permanent migrant flows – The
government of country furthermore must prefer the currently admitted health migrants who
are admitted to the temporary rather than permanent basis.
Development of the innovative pathways towards the process of the practice and registration
- The government should initiate in the facilitation of the migrant doctors who had been

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working in the area of need positions under the supervision up to four years (Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). These doctors should also be given the opportunity for
the application for the permanent residential status. This practise will help the country to
secure the essential workforce supply.

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References
Australian Government. (2019). Appendix vi: Further information on the international health
professional workforce. Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/work-review-
australian-government-health-workforce-programs-toc~appendices~appendix-vi-
further-information-international-health-professional-workforce
Australian Government. (2019). Improving Australia's health system: what we can do now -
PC News and other articles. Retrieved from https://www.pc.gov.au/news-media/pc-
news/previous-editions/pc-news-may-2015/improving-australia-health-system
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). Health and Welfare services. Retrieved
from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-welfare-services/workforce/data
Bidwell, P., Laxmikanth, P., Blacklock, C., Hayward, G., Willcox, M., Peersman, W., ... &
Mant, D. (2014). Security and skills: the two key issues in health worker
migration. Global health action, 7(1), 24194.
Buchan, J. M., Naccarella, L., & Brooks, P. M. (2011). Is health workforce sustainability in
Australia and New Zealand a realistic policy goal?. Australian Health Review, 35(2),
152-155.
Negin, J., Rozea, A., Cloyd, B., & Martiniuk, A. L. (2013). Foreign-born health workers in
Australia: an analysis of census data. Human resources for health, 11(1), 69.
Parliament of Australia. (2019). Australia's Migration Program – Parliament of Australia.
Retrieved from
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/
Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/1011/AustMigration

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Sanggaran, J. P., Haire, B., & Zion, D. (2016). The health care consequences of Australian
immigration policies. PLoS medicine, 13(2), e1001960.
WHO. (2014). MIGRATION OF HEALTH WORKERS WHO CODE OF PRACTICE AND
THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS. Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/hrh/migration/14075_MigrationofHealth_Workers.pdf
WHO. (2017). Health Workforce Mobility: Migration and Integration in Australia. Retrieved
from https://www.who.int/hrh/Track-Health-workforce-mobility-Hawthorne-15Nov-
15h30-17h.pdf?ua=1
WHO. (2019). Advancing the right to health: the vital role of law; Chapter 14: Migration and
retention of health care workers. Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/healthsystems/topics/health-law/chapter14.pdf