Recent Projects
HRDA Directors and Associates have many years of experience in human resources for health research, training and consulting, both in Australia and internationally and focusses on the Asian and Western Pacific regions.
| Project Name | Information |
|---|---|
| Aged Care Workforce | This was a study commissioned by World Health Organization (WHO), Western Pacific Regional Office. The main objective of study was to produce a regional analysis of specific needs and gaps in health workforce policy and planning for ageing populations in the Asia Pacific region. The study identified current policies and practices that could inform policy options and priority actions relevant for low and middle-income countries in the Western Pacific Region. |
| Malaysia Study Tour – Health Workforce Planning | A study tour was designed and delivered to a key Ministry of Health workforce planning officer that included visits to relevant Australian Government Organizations and departments and private sector companies involved in health workforce data collection, data analysis and use of data for a variety of human resource research functions. Individual tuition was also provided to the officer in strategic workforce planning. |
| Kazakhstan Study Tour | This project was a study tour / training program designed and delivered for delegates of the Kazakhstan Ministry of Health (KazHealth). The purpose of the program was to assist the Ministry to build strategic HRH capacity prior to the initiation of a Human Resources in Health (HRH) Observatory in Kazakhstan. |
| Ukraine, HRH needs of a private Child and Maternal health service – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) | Project involved supporting the growth ambitions of a Ukrainian private sector health services company called Mamin Dom (Mom’s House), which started with a small shop in the centre of Kharkiv (the second largest city in Ukraine on the Eastern border) in 1999 providing families with new-born babies and children under 6 necessary goods (from cloths to strollers). In 2006 a paediatric clinic called Raduga (Rainbow) was added to the business. The project helped improve all aspects of HR functioning but particularly introduced new thinking on worker (especially the health professionals) selection, training, remuneration, performance management, deployment and recruitment strategy. |
| Health Professions Education in the Pacific – WHO, Presentation to the Heads of Health Meeting, Suva, 2017 | An opinion paper was commissioned by WHO, Suva to review the extent of and to inventory health professionals education programs in the Pacific and to make recommendations on standardization of programs where possible, consistent with the development of national qualifications standards and registers and the increasing use of competencies in health professions education. |
| Development of Solomon Islands Health Management at Leadership Program 2018, WHO & Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) | HRDA designed, developed and delivered the Postgraduate Diploma in Health Leadership and Management at the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) for face-to-face and online learning. This course was the first ever postgraduate offering at SINU. It has successfully graduated over 50 middle and senior SI health managers. |
| HRH International Course for HRH Leaders, WHO | HRDA conducted a WHO sponsored International Course on Human Resources for Health for delegates from Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Malaysia. The course was held at the University of Notre Dame clinical campus in Windsor, NSW. The aim was for participants of the course to leave with practical plans that they could implement on their return home. Ideally, they would walk away with something applicable and relevant to their needs, based on their own country’s particular HRH context. The structure of the course included lectures and brainstorming sessions, exercises aimed at making participants aware of different sustainable approaches to the same problems, regular group and individual assignments and site visits giving life to some of the course content. |
| Health Workforce Mapping in the Pacific | HRDA was contracted by WHO, Suva to conduct a mapping of the health workforce in PICs using a structured data collection survey tool. |
| Solomon Islands Medical Scheme of Service Review, WHO & MHMS | After many years of continued payment of doctors and dentists in the Solomon Islands under a Scheme of Service negotiated and consummated in 2005, a review of the Scheme of Services was long overdue. Under WHO funding, the MHMS urgently sought the support of an independent consultant for this review as part of its support for change management. HRDA identified major concerns with the structure of the current Scheme of Service and its tenuous relationship with the Unified Salary Structure (USS) an important pillar of public service remuneration. It was decided to create an Options Paper that would identify possible solutions to medical practitioner pay and performance, and suggest a way forward, including the development of a new Scheme of Service divorced from a structural connection with the USS. |
| HR planning and management support for a private Mongolia hospital, EBRD | HRDA was part of a small consultancy team that included expertise on clinical pathways, best practice and management information systems supporting the growth plans of a Mongolian private hospital, Gurvan Gal. HRDA’s input was to link the desired improvements in clinical capability and quality with HR performance management systems that help drive and sustain change. HRDA also conducted a short Leadership and Management course for all senior managers with a focus on best practice personnel management. |
| Strategic HR support for a family-owned hospital in Egypt, EBRD | HRDA helped a family-owned hospital in Cairo refocus its specialist strategic HR structures to align more faithfully with its emerging business objectives (expanded footprint and commitment to quality services). This required work on the Organization structure, the salary structure, development of the HR information system, and linking of performance management to better specified competencies and appropriate and meaningful performance indicators. Other strategic work on planning the nursing workforce and more operational work on job descriptions, job evaluation, and training needs assessment were undertaken. |
| Papua New Guinea HRH Plan to 2021 to 2030, WHO and DoH PNG | Through WHO HRDA assisted the PNG Department of Health to draft the next National HRH Plan 2021 to 2030. Human resources are a major limitation to PNG providing an effective health service. Decentralization of health services and staff administration has been devolved to the provinces but the capacity to manage and supervise staff is still in the early stages. The team, funded by WHO, made a series of recommendations to strengthen HRH management at the national and provincial levels. |
| Solomon Islands, Review of the National Health Strategic Plan 2016-2020, WHO and MHMS 2020 | HRDA led a WHO funded team assisting the SI Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) to review the achievements of the past National Health Strategic Plan 2016-20 (which had been extended to 2021). Working with three National Consultants, HRDA developed and presented a series of recommendations for the next NHSP arising from extensive interview data, a review of progress against core indicators and national policy documents. |
| Mapping Mental Health Assets in the Pacific, 2021 | HRDA was contracted to create an inventory of mental health services, training programs and supporters in the Pacific Islands Countries and Territories. An inventory was created, and interviews conducted through the Oceania Society for Mental Health Professionals. The networking across the Pacific needs to be continuously invigorated. |
| Tonga Human Resources for Health Country Profile, WHO 2021 | HRDA was contracted by WHO to assist the Tonga Ministry of Health to prepare the Country Human Resources for Health Profile 2022. The Country HRH Profiles are periodic publications last completed for Tonga in 2013. Significant growth in HRH capacity in the intervening years has allowed the potential to rationalise resources to support the funding of specialist medical positions, currently supported through donors. It also brought to light the unintended consequences of the division in the nursing workforce arising from the creation of specialist NCD cadre, and the need for an increase in the level of coordinating authority at the facility level. |