To align with the WA Public Sector Commission Aboriginal Employment Strategy 2011-2015 (PDF 4MB), WA Health is working towards an Aboriginal workforce target of 3.2 per cent. To achieve this, WA Health has set a goal of recruiting 100 additional Aboriginal employees each year.
WA Health values diversity in the workplace and is committed to building a sustainable Aboriginal health workforce from entry level to leadership roles, using a variety of career pathways and employment opportunities. WA Health recognises the need to increase employment opportunities for Aboriginal people and has pledged a commitment to this despite the tight fiscal environment.
To achieve these targets the OD 0581/14 WA Health Aboriginal Workforce Policy (external site) (the Policy) was developed with the Senior Health Executive (SHEF). The purpose of the Policy is to support WA Health to increase the number of Aboriginal people working across the health system.
The Policy mandates the following initiatives until WA Health has reached the Public Sector Commission’s employment target:
- Prioritise the offer of junior medical officer places to Aboriginal medical graduates in Western Australia.
- Prioritise the offer of nurse and midwife graduate places to Aboriginal nurse and midwife graduates in Western Australia.
- Quarantine 2 WA Health Graduate Development Program places for Aboriginal graduates in Western Australia.
- Develop and implement Aboriginal Traineeship and Cadetship programs in each health service.
- Identify positions to employ Aboriginal cadets, trainees and graduates on completion of their program.
- Provide opportunities for Aboriginal people to develop individual capacity to competitively apply for permanent positions. This may include opportunities for appointments to fixed term contracts.
This Policy supports the WA Health Aboriginal Workforce Strategy 2014-2024 (PDF 748KB) which aims to develop a strong, skilled and growing Aboriginal health workforce across WA Health including clinical, non-clinical and leadership roles.