Migration, mobility and Australia's healthcare workforce: Towards a people-centred approach

This report presents the findings from the Networks of Care: Migration, Mobility & Australia’s Healthcare Workforce research project, funded by the Australian Research Council. The Networks of Care project investigates the experiences of Australia’s migrant health workforce in the context of worldwide healthcare worker shortages. It places a particular emphasis on how healthcare workers’ family, community and professional relationships and informal care responsibilities shape their migration decisions, experiences in the workplace and plans for the future. People-centred insights are largely absent from current migration and workforce programs, contributing to persistent challenges in attracting and retaining healthcare workers. Addressing this gap can inform more effective policy design and support a shift toward people centred approaches that benefit health professionals, services, and the communities they serve. The report foregrounds the voices of internationally qualified healthcare professionals (IQHPs) who have migrated to Australia (or plan to do so), alongside the perspectives of experienced industry professionals working in settlement services, migration policy, workforce and employment and in people-centred approaches to social issues. Based on qualitative data collected from over 100 experts by experience and/or profession, this report suggests that without a deep understanding of these human and relational aspects of international healthcare workers’ mobility, any migration or workforce solutions remain incomplete at best, and deeply damaging at worst. Furthermore, the dehumanisation of skilled migrants leads to exploitative and unfair practices, resulting in multiple negative implications for migrants, as well as for communities and the healthcare and migration systems. In addition to identifying tensions and challenges resulting from the lack of a people-centred approach, this report proposes practical solutions for implementing people-centred approaches in the skilled migration system.