A Process to Inform Rural Nursing Workforce Planning and Development
Authors: Hendry Christine 
Published: April 2024

With many rural health workers approaching retirement age, a local district in Aotearoa New Zealand embarked on a project to identify the current status of the nursing and kaiāwhina (support worker) workforce to develop a visionary plan for the future to match community health needs. There were four-stages to the project: 1) profile the current population and health resources available in the community; 2) profile the current nursing workforce; 3) survey local nurses regarding their current work and future plans; and 4) seek perspectives of local nurses, health managers and community representatives on strategies to sustain a future nursing workforce. This paper focuses on the first two stages of this project. Using postcodes as a geographic locator, the parameters of the health service catchment were established. Local council and census data relating to the catchment were used to build the district’s profile, while websites provided information on current health service availability. Nursing annual practising data linked to postcodes provided the nursing workforce profile. The finalised framework was designed to inform a future match between the nursing workforce and the district’s community’s health needs. Replication of the process, this profiling framework, has the potential to benchmark progress with nursing workforce development over time, as well as benchmark nursing workforce capacity between rural localities. The findings from the profiling allowed us to demonstrate the uniqueness of the district’s population, the health services available, and both the precariousness and potential of a nursing workforce. Te reo Māori translation He hātepe hei kawe whakamua i te whakamaheretanga tapuhi tuawhenua me te whakawhanaketanga Ngā ariā matua Nā runga i te tatanga o te huhua o ngā kaimahi hauora tuawhenua ki te reanga tuku mutunga mahi, i whakarewaina e tētahi rohe whāiti i Aotearoa tētahi kaupapa hei tautuhi i te tūnga o te kāhui kaimahi tapuhi, kaiāwhina hoki, hei tārei i tētahi mahere matawhānui mō āpōpō, kia hāngai ki ngā hiahia hauora o te hapori. E whā ngā kauwhata o te kaupapa: 1) he kawe i tētahi inenga o te kōtaha taupori, me ngā rawa hauora e wātea ana i te hapori; 2) he ine i te kāhui kaimahi tapuhi o nāianei; 3) he uiui i ngā tapuhi o te rohe mō tō tātou mahi o nāianei, me ō rātou mahere mō āpōpō; me te 4) rapu whakaaro o ngā tapuhi o te rohe, ngā kaiwhakahaere hauora me ngā kanohi hapori mō ngā rautaki whakaū i tētahi kāhui tapuhi toitū mō ngā rā e heke mai nei. E anga ana tēnei tuhinga ki ngā kauwhata tuatahi e rua o tēnei kaupapa. Nā te whakamahinga o ngā waehere poutāpeta hei tūtohu takiwā, i tātaitia ngā taupā mō te whānui o te rohe hauora. I whakamahia ngā raraunga kaunihera ā-rohe, ngā raraunga tatauranga hoki mō te rohe, hei whakapūmau i te kōtaha o te takiwā, ā, i whakamahia hoki ngā pae tukutuku hei hora mōhiotanga mō te wāteatanga ratonga hauora o nāianei. Nā ngā raraunga mahi tapuhi ā-tau i paiheretia ki ngā waehere poutāpeta i hora te kōtaha kāhui kaimahi tapuhi. I āta hoahoatia te anga i whakaotingia kia whakamahia hei pou tūtohu mō te whakatairitenga o te kāhui kaimahi tapuhi ki ngā hiahia hauora o te hapori o te takiwā. Ki te tukuruatia tēnei hātepe, mā te whakamahi i te anga ine i te āhua o te takiwā, ka taea pea te tirotiro mehemea kei te eke te whanaketanga kāhui tapuhi ki ngā tohu i whakaritea, waihoki, te tirotiro mehemea kei te eke haere te raukaha kāhui tapuhi ki ngā rohe tuawhenua maha. Nā ngā kitenga o tēnei inenga i āhei ai mātou ki te whakaahua i te āhua motuhake o te taupori o te takiwā, i ngā ratonga hauora hoki e wātea ana, me te tītengi, te pitomata hoki o tētahi kāhui tapuhi. Ngā kupu matua: Aotearoa, te ine i te hapori, te kāhui kaimahi hauora tuawhenua, te tapuhi tuawhenua, ngā ratonga tapuhi tuawhenua, te whakmahere kāhui kaimahi