Healthcare workforce plan by the year-end

Dr Cannaby, Dr al-Meer and ICN Leadership for Change Programme director Dr Stephanie Ferguson listen to a speaker during the workshop.

By Noimot Olayiwola/Staff Reporter

A National Healthcare Workforce Development Strategy, which will help shape staffing at all levels of healthcare services in the country, is expected to be announced by the year-end, senior health officials said yesterday.“With the National Healthcare Strategy and our human resource planning, we have to come up with the numbers of nurses, physicians, and allied health personnel that would be required for achieving the Qatar National Vision 2030, and for the future. So we need to come up with human resource strategy, to see what are our needs for the future, by this year-end,” Supreme Council of Health Nursing Affairs chief Dr Nabila al-Meer said.Dr al-Meer was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the five-day International Council of Nursing Leadership for Change Programme, being held at the Renaissance Doha.She explained that for the implementation of the Workforce Development Strategy, the participants in the workshop, comprising some 33 Qatari nurses and three national co-ordinators, have to understand the QNV 2030 and how that will drive the NHS, to implement the vision, and develop strategies for 2011-2016.“Based on the strategy, there will be many improvements in the healthcare sector. For example, there has been an increase in non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, so how can we change and improve the healthcare and well-being of the population of Qatar through many of these projects that will have to be developed,” she said.Dr al-Meer said the workshop is being held in collaboration with the SCH, WHO and the International Council of Nursing (ICN) following the SCH’s request to the WHO to help implement the Leadership for Change programme in Qatar.“The purpose of this programme, which will last for about two years, is to develop the nurse leadership and other allied health leadership skills and competences into managing the healthcare services,” she said.Dr al-Meer said the graduates will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to be able to influence policy and health system improvement; develop a cost-effective model of delivering services; be effective contributors to the broader healthcare team; and continue in the ongoing leadership programme.She added that ICN will be selecting some participants from the workshop for a programme later so that they can train other nurses in Qatar, in the region and globally, adding that other allied health professionals will be considered in the future.Also speaking about the Workforce Strategy, the SCH’s National Health Strategy Programme Management Office programme support manager Mathew William Tagney said the strategy was still in the development phase.“The Workforce development strategy is expected by year-end. However, it is still in development at the moment, we’re looking at lots of different people in the healthcare system, trying to understand what their plans are. What the implications of their plans are, what does it mean. For example, the PHCC strategy, that we released, we need to understand what the workforce implications are, because we’re going to have more primary healthcare centres. So we need more staff,” he said.Commenting on his presentation on ‘Qatar’s Health Priorities and NHS’, he said it was to talk to nursing leaders in Qatar and make them aware of changes that are going to happen soon.Tagney noted that because of the changes to models of care, there will be more care done outside of hospitals, either in a primary healthcare centre or maybe in a community setting or people’s houses. “Strategy should think about what more could nurses do, that would be safe, good for the patients, and would allow nursing to progress and make services in Qatar better,” he added. HMC Corporate Nursing executive director Dr Ann Mary Cannaby reiterated the Corporation’s five-point nursing strategy for 2013-2015, saying it will require the right staff.“Healthcare system is growing, so we need to make sure we get the right people with the right skills, appropriate care and appropriate remuneration as well as ensure they are educated to the right standards,” she said.Dr Cannaby also cited the need for the right structures, saying: “As nursing workforce grows, we need more people to monitor and support junior nurses, to prioritise, ensure nursing education and research that is vital and sustainable to the system.”1. Tagney making his presentation.