Workforce

Surge workforce

• Staff seconded from:
  • Clinical positions (hospitals)
  • Council Environmental Services teams
  • Medical students in the region (universities)
  • Clinicians who had trained overseas but been unable to secure work in Australia 

Staff required

• Depending on the situation, the following staff may be required 
  • Clinical staff for testing/vaccination (eg. COVID-19) 
  • Administration staff to manage client registration, appointment scheduling and queries  
  • Security staff where there is known or potential risk to staff 
  • Staff for traffic management 

Building capacity

• Training provided to understand and assess communicable disease risks  
• Daily briefings scheduled to keep up-to-date with guideline changes: can be changed from daily to weekly/monthly/as needed as current guidelines for communicable diseases do not update frequently.  
• Upskill of staff in standard Infection Prevention Control measures to limit transmission 
• Staff given tools to manage repeated ‘pest callers/presenters’ 
• Processes in place to support the mental health of staff  

Qualification requirements

• Vaccination: Medical officer, fully trained immunisation registered nurse or nurse practitioner
• Case management: university recognised bachelors qualification – preferably in health
• Outbreak management: university recognised bachelors qualification – preferably in health 

• Placed based recruitment is preferred in rural locations; local knowledge is invaluable