A first of its kind advertising campaign will be launched to attract Australians to careers in primary health care, outside hospitals.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said primary health care related to non-hospital settings like general practice, aged care, mental health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and other community health settings.
Minister Butler said by showcasing the diverse, dynamic and rewarding career opportunities within primary health care, the campaign sought to:
- Attract new talent, including university health students and recent graduates.
- Inspire current healthcare professionals to consider primary health care pathways.
- Demonstrate the various pathways into the primary health care industry.
- Shift public perceptions by highlighting the impact, purpose and career growth opportunities in primary health care.
He said the campaign highlighted allied health roles and promoted GP, nursing, midwifery and remote nursing careers.
“The campaign website highlights the range of Australian Government programs and incentives available to support people pursuing these careers, alongside case studies of inspiring health professionals.”
Minister Butler said the new campaign would be delivered via a range of channels including television, social media, digital video and ‘out-of-home’ ads like billboards around TAFEs, universities and hospitals.
He said the information would be translated into Mandarin, Vietnamese, Arabic, Cantonese, Korean, Nepali and Punjabi.
“Considering how critically important primary health care professions are, it seems incredible (this is) the first careers campaign like this.”
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners President Michael Wright said Australia needed to grow the specialist GP workforce faster to meet the increasing need for care.
“Our population is growing and ageing and we have an epidemic of chronic illnesses, which requires high-quality specialist GP care,” Dr Wright said.
“This means we need to train more GPs, and we also need to promote the benefits of general practice as a career to attract future generations of doctors.”
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Deputy CEO Dawn Casey said it was important to work closely with communities to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who wanted to pursue a career in primary health care.
“For many, it’s not a matter of going straight into university, but it’s about following a pathway in which they may start as an Aboriginal health worker and then go on to studying nursing or medicine,” Dr Casey said.
