Health Workforce Symposium Outcomes: Moving Beyond Recruitment

How industry is reshaping workforce solutions across the Redlands Coast

Workforce challenges across the health and care sectors continue to place growing pressure on employers across the Redlands Coast.

Recruitment shortages, workforce burnout, rising demand and increasing competition for skilled workers are impacting organisations across health, aged care, disability support and community services. At the same time, population growth, an ageing community and increasing service demand are intensifying the need for long-term workforce planning.

These challenges formed the focus of the recent Redlands Health & Care Workforce Symposium, delivered by the Redlands Regional Jobs Committee and attended by employers, educators, training providers, government representatives and workforce stakeholders from across the region.

While workforce shortages remain a significant concern, one message emerged consistently throughout the day: the sector’s workforce challenges are no longer simply a recruitment issue.

A broader workforce challenge

Discussions throughout the symposium highlighted that attracting workers is only one part of the solution. Retention, workforce culture, career pathways, training alignment and regional collaboration are becoming equally important in building a sustainable health and care workforce.

Participants spoke openly about the realities being experienced across the sector, including workforce shortages, increasing burnout, housing affordability pressures, transport barriers and growing competition for a limited pool of workers.

Importantly, there was strong recognition that many of these challenges are shared across organisations. Rather than competing for the same workforce, participants highlighted the opportunity for greater collaboration across the region to strengthen workforce attraction, retention and development outcomes.

The symposium reinforced the need for a more coordinated approach that brings together industry, education, training providers and government to support long-term workforce sustainability.

Building stronger workforce pathways

A significant focus of the symposium centred on developing stronger local workforce pipelines and creating clearer pathways into health and care careers.

Participants identified opportunities to increase exposure to health and care careers earlier, strengthen connections between schools and industry, expand traineeship and graduate pathways, and improve support for career changers entering the sector.

Discussions also highlighted the importance of promoting the breadth of career opportunities available across the health and care ecosystem. From administration and operational roles through to allied health, aged care, disability support and clinical professions, participants recognised the need to improve awareness of the diverse career pathways available within the sector.

Underlying many of these conversations was a shared commitment to growing local talent and creating stronger pathways that connect education, training and employment opportunities across the Redlands Coast.

Collaboration driving practical solutions

Workshop sessions throughout the day focused on three key areas: workforce pipeline development, recruitment and collaboration, and retention and workforce experience.

Across all discussions, participants consistently identified collaboration as a critical enabler of future workforce success.

Opportunities explored included stronger partnerships between employers and training providers, greater alignment between training and workforce demand, shared approaches to workforce attraction, and practical initiatives that support employee wellbeing, career progression and workplace culture.

The conversations also reinforced that workforce outcomes are influenced by broader regional issues, including housing, transport, infrastructure and workforce participation barriers. Addressing these challenges will require continued advocacy and cooperation across multiple sectors.

Turning conversation into action

Perhaps the most important outcome of the symposium was the shared commitment to continue the work beyond the event itself.

Strong support emerged for the establishment of an ongoing RJC Health & Care Working Group that will bring together industry stakeholders to progress workforce priorities, explore practical initiatives and support implementation of actions over the coming months.

Insights gathered through presentations, panel discussions and workshop activities will help inform future workforce initiatives, partnerships and priorities aligned with the Redlands Regional Jobs Committee Workforce Action Plan.

The symposium also highlighted opportunities to further strengthen workforce attraction and employer engagement through initiatives such as the Redlands Coast Jobs Hub, while continuing to build stronger connections between employers, educators, training providers and jobseekers.

As workforce pressures continue to evolve, the symposium demonstrated the value of bringing industry together to move beyond identifying challenges and towards designing practical, locally led workforce solutions.