Gippsland Primary Health Network (PHN) is a not-for-profit organisation working to improve the health and wellbeing of people across Gippsland. Workforce is a priority issue for Gippsland PHN. In 2019, a regional workforce strategy was developed by Gippsland PHN and Latrobe Regional Hospital as a component of regional mental health and suicide prevention planning. In 2020, the regional strategic group Gippsland Mental Health Alliance (GMHA) endorsed the Gippsland Mental Health and Workforce Strategy.

Implementation of the strategy commenced with the convening of a GMHA working group on workforce and agreement to focus on:

• Availability and access to education and professional development opportunities.
• Mapping of staff specialties.

A component of this work involved the design and pilot of a workforce survey as a recurring component of the Gippsland PHN’s Needs Assessment activity to inform future workforce and service planning. The data will be used to grow, recruit and retain the regional health workforce. This report provides a summary of key findings.