This report provides an overview of the speech pathology workforce in Victoria in 2015-2016. It is based on survey responses from 740 individual speech pathologists (approximately 50 per cent of the Victorian speech pathology workforce); four focus groups involving 11 participants; and surveys from 69 organisations that provide services across 311 different locations or sites in Victoria. Public sector employees were slightly over-represented in the survey sample.
Speech pathology has a perceived oversupply due to recent rapid growth in new graduates; however the complete picture is much more complicated. Anecdotal evidence suggested there was unmet community need for speech pathology services including reports of long waiting lists, concerns regarding capacity to deliver quality patient care due to inadequate resources and delays in providing necessary services, lack of funding to recruit speech pathologists to meet demand, high workloads and staff burnout. At the same time, there were reports of speech pathology graduates being unable to find work.
Geographic differences were reported in the capacity to fill speech pathology positions. For instance, one service reported more than 100 applicants for a new graduate position. In contrast, two other services received no applications for a grade 2 and grade 3 position. Unfilled positions were reported in outer metropolitan Melbourne and regional centres, but not inner metropolitan Melbourne areas. Respondents reported that funded vacant positions were typically filled within six months. Workforce capacity issues were accentuated by structural issues in the workforce. In particular, some organisations fund speech pathology positions on short term, temporary or part-time contracts. These positions were less attractive from a recruitment perspective and impacted on the profession's building workforce capacity.
The speech pathology workforce has relatively few senior positions. However, leadership from senior roles is necessary to build advocacy on behalf of patients and the profession, and to provide governance structures for more junior staff regardless of their employment location. In this context, speech pathologists reported the need for improved career advancement opportunities and wanted the use of transparent criteria to guide career progression. Despite the limited number of senior roles, some organisations experienced challenges recruiting to senior speech pathology roles. This suggests that opportunities exist to implement proactive approaches to succession planning within the profession.
Speech pathologists also noted the opportunity to improve workforce capacity and career advancement potential through better access to continuing professional development (CPD) relevant to specific areas of practice. Support through time, funding, and availability of appropriate CPD will be key to enhancing individual career advancement and the development of the profession. Professionals in smaller organisations and rural areas expressed the greatest challenges in accessing CPD. Despite this, the speech pathology workforce is highly qualified; 20 per cent have higher degree qualifications and 30 per cent bring diverse skills from a previous career. There would be benefits in improving explicit opportunities to capitalise on the intrinsic workforce capacity.
Speech pathologists were motivated by the type of work they do and clients they work with, achieving a positive work/life balance, and having access to professional development opportunities. While most were satisfied with the type of work they performed and the clients they worked with, there was dissatisfaction with their pay, and opportunities for professional development and career advancement. Anecdotally, workforce retention was perceived as a concern within the speech pathology workforce. The self-reported attrition rate from the speech pathology workforce is 1 per cent in the next 12 months, increasing to 22 per cent in five years. Within 12 months, 14 per cent of speech pathologists propose to change jobs, with the majority seeking better job opportunities or working conditions. There were no systemic skills gaps identified within the speech pathology profession; however several organisations identified specific skills that would be of benefit locally, including clinical skills across a range of practice areas, knowledge of the health and service system, and supervision skills. Improved access to CPD may be a way to resolve several local skills gaps.
Key areas of consideration for the speech pathology workforce going forward include: (1) Developing metrics of community need/demand for speech pathology services; (2) Increasing leadership representation for the profession to support the development of early career professionals and to advocate at a high level for adequate resourcing and provision of services; (3) Improving career structures and understanding of career progression opportunities; (4) Supporting innovative ways to access relevant CPD opportunities for practitioners in metro and particularly regional areas; (5) Creating new ways of working that provide opportunities for early career professionals and support workload management for the existing workforce; (6) Increasing evidence and knowledge base of the professions models of care to improve referrals and business cases for optimal staffing levels to improve patient outcomes; (7) Undertake modelling around [Allied Health] AH, nursing and medical staffing numbers and mix that ensure optimal service capacity and health outcomes; (8) Improving ongoing mechanism for capturing data about the speech pathology workforce trends; and (9) Improving recognition and understanding of the profession and ability to advocate for the profession.
Excerpts from publication.
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