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Right Time, Right Place: Improving access to health service through effective retention and distribution of health workers

Health systems around the world are looking to improve access to health services and health system effectiveness. Two key interlocking components of a sustainable health workforce solution are to keep scarce skills in the system by effective retention strategies, and to enable them to be deployed where they can best make a positive difference to population health. Many management, education and policy solutions to achieving “right time, right place” are being tried and tested in different countries. The aim of this themed special edition of “Human Resources for Health” is to report on new analysis, strategic intelligence, and evidence that is pointing to improvements in retention and distribution of health workers. Sponsored by Health Workforce Australia (HWA) , this series draws from studies in a range of countries, and provides new insights into what can be done to improve access to health through more effective human resources policies, planning and management. The primary focus is on health workforce distribution and retention.

Prof James Buchan

  1. To assess the feasibility of utilizing a small-scale, low-cost, pilot evaluation in assessing the short-term impact of Kenya’s emergency-hire nursing programme (EHP) on the delivery of health services (outpati...

    Authors: Stephen M Vindigni, Patricia L Riley, Francis Kimani, Rankesh Willy, Patrick Warutere, Jennifer F Sabatier, Rose Kiriinya, Michael Friedman, Martin Osumba, Agnes N Waudo, Chris Rakuom and Martha Rogers
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2014 12:16
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Australians living in rural and remote communities experience relatively poor health status in comparison to the wider Australian population (Med J Aust 185:37-38, 2006). This can be attributed in part to issu...

    Authors: Anna L Morell, Sandra Kiem, Melanie A Millsteed and Almerinda Pollice
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2014 12:15
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. In South Africa, community service following medical training serves as a mechanism for equitable distribution of health professionals and their professional development. Community service officers are require...

    Authors: Abigail M Hatcher, Michael Onah, Saul Kornik, Julia Peacocke and Stephen Reid
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2014 12:14
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. To identify mechanisms for the successful implementation of support strategies for health-care practitioners in rural and remote contexts.

    Authors: Anna M Moran, Julia Coyle, Rod Pope, Dianne Boxall, Susan A Nancarrow and Jennifer Young
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2014 12:10
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Australia’s health workforce is facing significant challenges now and into the future. Health Workforce Australia (HWA) was established by the Council of Australian Governments as the national agency to progre...

    Authors: Ian F Crettenden, Maureen V McCarty, Bethany J Fenech, Troy Heywood, Michelle C Taitz and Sam Tudman
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2014 12:7
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Ongoing economic and health system reforms in China have transformed nurse employment in Chinese hospitals. Employment of ‘bianzhi’ nurses, a type of position with state-guaranteed lifetime employment that has...

    Authors: Jingjing Shang, Liming You, Chenjuan Ma, Danielle Altares, Douglas M Sloane and Linda H Aiken
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2014 12:1
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Increasingly, health workforces are undergoing high-level ‘re-engineering’ to help them better meet the needs of the population, workforce and service delivery. Queensland Health implemented a large scale 5-ye...

    Authors: Susan A Nancarrow, Alison Roots, Sandra Grace, Anna M Moran and Kerry Vanniekerk-Lyons
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2013 11:66
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Globally, abundant opportunities exist for policymakers to improve the accessibility of rural and remote populations to primary health care through improving workforce retention. This paper aims to identify an...

    Authors: Deborah J Russell, John S Humphreys, Matthew R McGrail, W Ian Cameron and Peter J Williams
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2013 11:65
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. As part of ongoing efforts to restructure the health sector and improve health care quality, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) in Namibia sought to update staffing norms for health facilities....

    Authors: Pamela A McQuide, Riitta-Liisa Kolehmainen-Aitken and Norbert Forster
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2013 11:64
    Content type: Case study Published on:

  11. This editorial introduces the 'Right time, Right place: improving access to health service through effective retention and distribution of health workers’ thematic series. This series draws from studies in a r...

    Authors: Ian Crettenden, Mario Dal Poz and James Buchan
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2013 11:60
    Content type: Editorial Published on: