It is no secret that labour shortage has been a prominent issue within the healthcare industry. Queues of idle ambulances everywhere, weeks and weeks of waitlists just for a general check-up, and the decline in care standards across the board are no stranger to our ears. This leaves us with the question, where did all the public healthcare professionals go?
The industry observed a decline in the number of active General Practitioners (GPs). The lethargy, stress, and fatigue from having to sprint from case to case, non-stop shifts, earning gap, and low incentive are named as the primary reasons to quit.
According to the recent RACGP’s “General Practice: Health of the Nation 2022” report, one quarter of all GPs plan to retire within the next five years, and only half of all current GPs intend to still be practicing in 10 years time.
Applications for GP training places have fallen and the number of junior doctors who are studying to become specialists continues to grow faster than GPs.
In recent years, there has been a trend of GPs transitioning to allied health and cosmetic surgery in search of better working conditions, a choice that has been powered by demand for such services. As an illustration, the number of allied health practitioners in Australia rose by 40.2% within 5 years, from 118k in 2015 to 166k in 2020.
The timing coincided with the public listing of allied healthcare company Healthia (ASX: HLA) in 2018 which identified this rising demand and opportunity to consolidate a hugely fragmented industry.
As an allied health provider operating independent of the public health system, Healthia offers competitive advantages in terms of flexibility, stability, continuous employee engagement, and guarantee of career progression compared to other healthcare sectors.
Operating more than 300 allied health businesses across Australia and New Zealand , Healthia provides more than 1.6 million patient appointments. Unlike individual clinics in the hugely fragmented industry that have no choice other than handling all of their business administration in-house, Healthia has the capacity to support its clinicians with marketing, accounting, recruitment, and supplies from their central office. Effectively, this enables clinicians to focus on treating patients without having to deal with administrative issues such as understaffing, promotional activities, or suppliers.
As an example, Healthia-owned clinics don’t have to frantically seek for replacements or delay appointments when a clinician is sick or leaving. Instead, clinics may have access to other clinicians within the Healthia network with centralised recruitment able to also take care of the hiring process.
Clear management structure gives reassurance that all the administrative matters will be taken care of, therefore giving clinicians peace of mind and less prone to burnout which has engulfed the public health system.
In the event of a clinician seeking a treechange, options are available to move to another clinic within the Healthia network, even on the other side of the country while retaining valuable staff within the network.
Aside from employee retention strategies, Healthia’s focus on employee wellbeing also involves a well-thought people-focused plan to drive productivity across the group.
To keep up with the industry’s labour requirements that goes in line with demand for allied health services, Healthia is rapidly progressing to become the industry’s employer of choice via its employee engagement and talent recognition initiatives.
The Company recently held its Inspired 2022 conference on the Gold Coast where clinicians were able to upskill themselves, ensuring that clinicians are looking after themselves and constantly educated on allied health best practices.
With an eye towards its long-term future and talent retention, Healthia developed a holistic recruitment strategy through its Graduate Program. In FY22, Healthia trained and inducted 154 new graduate clinicians, up from 64 in the previous year. This will assist with vacancies, organic growth, and continuous regeneration with opportunities under the Healthia model to progress to clinic ownership.
For new graduates, this is an industry-leading incentive and excellent pathway to continuous career progression within Australia’s fastest growing allied health portfolio.
Jarryd is an experienced Investment Adviser at Emerald Financial Group
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*Owners of this website are shareholders in a company mentioned in this article and have been engaged by them to assist in investor communications
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