Pilot phase 1: Queensland

In 2023 the National Care Workforce Alliance (NaCWA) received funding from the Queensland Government to commence a pilot project with Queensland members.

This funding was provided under the Queensland Government’s Jobs Queensland ‘Health and Community Services Sectors Workforce Development Project 2022-2025’ which is an initiative of the ‘Good Jobs. Good People: Queensland Workforce Strategy 2022-2023’. The strategy is a ’10-year plan to provide the strategic foundation for government to work with industry, business, community and government stakeholders to develop a strong and skilled workforce’.

The funding from QCC kickstarted NaCWA’s journey, moving the intentions of the alliance from big ideas to reality. It gave the concept of NaCWA credibility in the sector and enabled the Foundation Partners, including ACU, to demonstrate that the concept of working together to tackle this issue ‘had legs’.

Thanks to QCC’s backing, NaCWA is now bringing its first proof of concept to life through the Queensland pilot project. The pilot is being led by a project team from the Australian Catholic University in collaboration with Queensland foundation partners.

Key Deliverables

The key deliverables of the Queensland Pilot are the development and trial of:

Connected orientation and onboarding training and processes between organisations. Existing orientation and onboarding processes and materials will be cross-referenced for equivalence rating, This will enable badging in the Skills Passport and the development of standardised training materials. This will increase efficiencies both for employees and employers and facilitate staff mobility across the sector.
A digital Skills Passport to provide care workers with evidence of onboarding and other training endorsed across multiple employers to improve mobility between employers.

Both of these initiatives are part of the broader Workforce Central (link to workforce central page) project. Following successful development and testing in the Queensland pilot, the intention of the NaCWA alliance is to roll these initiatives out nationally.

Location

The Queensland pilot will be undertaken by a selection of NaCWA alliance members based in South Esat Queensland. and expanded to the wider NaCWA membership as systems are developed.

The initial pilot is being conducted in metropolitan Brisbane before a staged roll out to regional and rural areas in South-East Queensland. The rationale for locating the initial pilot in Brisbane is to increase accessibility and participation to co-creation workshops by the participant group and the NaCWA members.

Impact of the Queensland Pilot

By working together to streamline ‘below the line’ activities that are currently replicated by each partner organisation, the proposed collaborative platform will empower care workers and create efficiencies for employers by:

simplifying and standardising on-boarding, recruitment and rostering systems.
connecting workers to supportive communities of practice and professional supervision/mentoring support.
creating and deploying connected career development and mobility pathways.
undertaking deep dive research to better understand evolving worker needs/wants within the dynamic care workforce environment.

Timing

The Queensland Pilot project is due for completion in late 2024.