chq covid-19 workforce prioritisation plan
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Printed Copies are uncontrolled
CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
27 January 2022
Version 2.0 endorsed by CHQ COVID IMT
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 2 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Document ID CHQ-PLAN-20300 Version No 2.0 Effective date 28/01/2022
Functional Area Workforce Strategy and Optimisation Review date 28/01/2023
Executive Approver Executive Director People and Governance
Contents
Contents ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 4
About CHQ ................................................................................................................................................. 4
Industrial considerations ............................................................................................................................. 5
COVID-19 Industrial Relations Principles ........................................................................................... 5
Union engagement ............................................................................................................................ 6
Deployment during COVID-19 ........................................................................................................... 6
Work Health and Safety .............................................................................................................................. 7
Key workforce considerations ..................................................................................................................... 8
Employees who will contribute to the COVID-19 response ................................................................ 8
Retention ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Rostering ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Role of CHQ COVID Incident Management Team (IMT) .................................................................... 9
Provision of IT infrastructure ............................................................................................................ 10
First Nations response ..................................................................................................................... 10
Professional Streams ................................................................................................................................ 10
Nursing ............................................................................................................................................ 10
Medical ............................................................................................................................................ 11
Allied health ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Administration .................................................................................................................................. 12
Workforce strategies ................................................................................................................................. 12
Permanent Nurse Pool/Casual Nurse Pool ...................................................................................... 12
USiN refresh .................................................................................................................................... 13
Graduate nurse transition program .................................................................................................. 13
Experienced nurse program ............................................................................................................. 14
Administration Relief Pool - CHQ ..................................................................................................... 14
Part time extra shifts ........................................................................................................................ 15
Overtime .......................................................................................................................................... 15
Capability uplift ................................................................................................................................ 15
Scope of practice ............................................................................................................................. 15
Framework
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Deployment ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Statewide surge pools ..................................................................................................................... 16
Models of Care ......................................................................................................................................... 17
CHQ overarching workforce flowchart ....................................................................................................... 18
Communications plan ............................................................................................................................... 19
Objectives ........................................................................................................................................ 19
Key stakeholders ............................................................................................................................. 19
Key communication channels .......................................................................................................... 20
Action plan ................................................................................................................................................ 21
Supporting documents .............................................................................................................................. 23
Consultation .............................................................................................................................................. 24
Definition of terms ..................................................................................................................................... 24
Revision and approval history ................................................................................................................... 25
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Introduction
The easing of Queensland border restrictions will result in COVID-19 circulating in the Queensland
community1. It is anticipated that in early 2022 Queensland will start to see a significant number of
COVID-19 cases2. In response, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service (CHQ) have
developed Models of Care (MOC) to meet the needs of three specific patient cohorts, these are:
• Care in the community: COVID Virtual Ward
• Emergent low care: Supervised Accommodation for Kids in Queensland
• Inpatient care: 9A COVID ward
The CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan focuses on the key workforce considerations in relation
to these three MOC and the additional impact of emergent and unplanned acute care flow on
workforce. The CHQ COVID-19 response has been developed with contemporary understanding of
current trends being seen in other Australian jurisdictions, noting that care in the community will be a
primary focus of care. Current modelling indicates that severe outcomes expected to concentrate in older
patient cohorts2.
The plan has been developed with modelling as of November 2021. With time, the COVID-19 virus will
continue to develop variant strains. This will require a continued focus in workforce planning, in line with
the CHQ Governance Structure (Pandemic Response), which notes Workforce as a key Pandemic
Response Workstream as part of CHQ Pandemic Readiness3. The plan should be read in context to the
CHQ-PLAN-60701 CHQ Pandemic Sub-Plan 20204.
About CHQ
CHQ is the specialist Statewide hospital and health service providing care to children across Queensland
and northern New South Wales. Provision of care is at the 359-bed Queensland Children’s Hospital as
well as community centres, at 15 other hospital and health services, with Non-Government Organisation
partners and Primary Health Networks5.
The Statewide workforce of CHQ is 4,937 employees, table 1 displays the occupied headcount and FTE
as of October 2021, by stream6.
1 Queensland restrictions at 80% double-dose vaccination | Health and wellbeing | Queensland Government (www.qld.gov.au)
accessed 24 November 2021 2 Modelling COVID-19 in Queensland: Preliminary modelling of reopening scenarios on meeting vaccination targets (covid19.qld.gov.au) accessed 24 November 2021 3 CHQ-Governance-for-pandemic-response-chart.pdf (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 24 November 2021
4 Pandemic Sub-Plan 2020 (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 6 December 2021 5 Our Hospital and Health Service | Children’s Health Queensland accessed 24 November 2021 6 MWP – Children’s Health Queensland Hospital & Health Service – October 2021 accessed 24 November 2021
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Medical (incl. VMOs) Headcount FTE
707.22 571.82
Nursing Headcount FTE
2,097.25 1,701.10
HP, Professional and technical Headcount FTE
1,074.60 856.64
Managerial and Clerical Headcount FTE
967.50 847.52
Operational Headcount FTE
90.29 60.06
Total streams Headcount FTE
4,936.86 4,036.03
Table 1: CHQ occupied headcount and FTE
The workforce employment status is comprised of 72.84% permanent, 23.33% temporary and 3.83%
casual employees. Table 2 provides a breakdown of employment status by stream7.
Medical (incl
VMOs)
Nursing Health Practitioners
Clinical streams
Managerial and
Clerical
Operational Non clinical
streams
Total streams
Permanent Headcount FTE
320.30 221.63
1,694.19 1,409.42
854.25 691.96
2,868.74 2,323.01
696.06 630.02
31.00 27.63
727.06 657.65
3,595.80 2,980.66
Temporary Headcount FTE
382.40 348.62
320.12 257.96
198.03 156.50
900.55 763.08
245.41 205.10
6.00 5.26
251.41 210.36
1,151.96 973.44
Casual Headcount FTE
4.52 1.57
82.94 33.72
22.32 8.18
109.78 43.47
26.03 12.40
53.29 27.17
79.32 39.57
189.10 83.04
Table 2: Workforce employment status by steam (October 2021).
Industrial considerations
The CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan provides a central document with key information, to
support decision making, in response to the COVID-19 impact on workforce. Consideration of the
industrial implications of any workforce plan is required.
COVID-19 Industrial Relations Principles
The Queensland Health Director-General undertook early engagement with clinical and administrative
industrial partners, launching the COVID-19 Industrial Relations Principles (the principles) on 16 April
2020. The principles supplement existing industrial relations frameworks, with the intent that they will
support all Queensland Health Hospital and Health Services (HHS), including CHQ, to respond rapidly to
COVID-19, when needed. The six principles are:
• The health and safety of our workforce is paramount
• Employees will only be asked to work within their scope of practice for clinical staff, or relevant skills,
experience, and qualifications for non-clinical staff
• Flexibility is vital to our response
• Respectful and rapid consultation about temporary changes is required
• Existing industrial entitlements will be maintained, and
7 MWP – Children’s Health Queensland Hospital & Health Service – October 2021 accessed 24 November 2021
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• All changes are temporary8.
These six principles have been contextualised by work stream as COVID-19 Industrial Relations Principles Guidelines9:
• Nurses and Midwives
• Medical Officers
• Administrative, Operational, professional and Technical Officers
• Health Practitioners and Dental Officers
Union engagement
One of the key CHQ stakeholders, in relation to employees, are the recognised industrial partners
(Unions). While CHQ is in the planning stages of developing the MOC being addressed in this document,
and the associated workforce planning strategies, it is the ideal time for early engagement. This will
provide opportunity for discussion and identification of potential issues or risks, with time to resolve.
The Plan was tabled for noting and feedback requested at the CHQ the Union Consultative Forum –
COVID-19 Subcommittee, chaired by the A/Executive Director of People and Culture, on the 15 December
2021. Consistent consultation is required and occurs through the Union Consultative Forum – COVID-19
Subcommittee, of which the professional leads are members. Specific Disruption and Disaster
Management Plans (DisMaP) addressing clinical areas have been developed and are out of scope for this
plan.
In line with the COVID -19 Industrial Relations Principles listed above, there will be a requirement for
continued, rapid consultation. This will require prioritisation by CHQ, noting the need for a dedicated
resource with specialist Industrial Relations knowledge to support the Human Resources team.
Deployment during COVID-19
The purpose of the Deployment during COVID-19 Guideline (the guideline) is to ‘provide a set of principles
to inform and support decision making regarding the appropriate deployment of employees as part of
Queensland Health’s response to COVID-19’10.
The Deployment during COVID-19 Guideline uses the COVID-19 Industrial Relations Principles to step
through considerations for managers when considering deployment as a workforce strategy. Principle 4,
Respectful and rapid consultation about temporary changes is required identifies that in the COVID-19
response, employees may be required to work in a setting or location or to undertake a different task or
role function.
8 https://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/hr/coronavirus/principles accessed 24 November 2021 9 COVID-19 Industrial Relations Principles (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 24 November 2021
10 Deployment during COVID-19 (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 24 November 2021
The ability to respond with agility will require industrial relations resources.
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The guideline identifies a process for managers, including the following:
• The employer will continue to work with any employees and union partners to ensure that this will occur
as smoothly as possible
• Managers should undertake early consultation with employees to ascertain their personal, family and
community responsibilities and requirements
• Managers should seek information, and the employee should be given an opportunity to advise any
specific impact of the proposed change on employees
• Managers should develop a list of employees who are agreeable to being deployed to another location
or role, if required.
At CHQ, in addition to managers having discussion with their employees, there will be a centralised
process where employees self-nominate an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the key areas of need. At the
same time, managers may be asked to consider a percentage of their workforce (identified by professional
stream) that could be used when required for surge workforce.
Work Health and Safety
The CHQ COVID-19 Work Health and Safety Management Plan was published in November 2021. The
plan has been developed to provide specific guidance on how CHQ is managing Work Health and Safety
risks in relation to COVID-19 and provides guidance to executive and leaders on their roles and
responsibilities11.
Some key areas of note:
• All staff to maintain skills and knowledge in relation to infection management and prevention
procedures
• Enhance existing wellbeing Programs, promote access to employee assistance program
• Ensure access to PPE education and skills retention workshops
• Ensure fit checks are attended as per CHQ-PROC-20019 P2/N95 Mask Use, Fit Testing and Training
and CHQ-WI-20016 P2/N95 Mask Fit Testing - Qualitative
• Ensure fatigue is considered and managed across all work streams
The QH Information Sheet COVID-19 and managing employee health risks steps through the process for
employees who have an increased risk of severe illness with COVID-19. All employees identified should
discuss with their line manager and have a formalised action plan12. There is a risk with this process that
the agreements are between the manager and employee and there is no organisational visibility of the
action plans or agreed mitigation strategies /adjustments.
11 COVID-19 Work Health and Safety Management Plan 12 Covid-19 and managing employee health risks accessed 30 November 2021
As management of employee health risks is undertaken at a local level, a process needs to be developed so there is organisational visibility of the workforce risk.
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Key workforce considerations
The COVID-19 Pandemic Workforce Surge Plan identifies the essential need for the employees to be
supported in their physical and mental wellbeing, additional supports can be found on the COVID-19 and
your wellbeing QHEPS site13,14 .
It is anticipated that localised COVID-19 exposure, either for individuals in the community, or multiple
employees in clinical areas will result in public health orders to isolate. Clinical leads should consider the
impact on both their services and their workforce as surge capacity and increased absenteeism impact
their clinical areas, this should be recorded in the relevant DisMaP.
Employees who will contribute to the COVID-19 response
The Queensland Health Pandemic Influenza Plan (May 2018), identifies types of employees who may
contribute to a public health surge response, including:
• public health professionals (including public health nurses; public health medical officers,
epidemiologists, environmental health officers etc.)
• health professionals with transferable skills (e.g. infection prevention and control, sexual health, and
tuberculosis control staff)
• clinical doctors/nurses (including specifically trained in intensive care/extracorporeal membrane
oxygenation (ECMO)
• allied health staff for staff, patient, and community support
• office and business managers
• data entry and management experts15.
Retention
As a key workforce strategy, early implementation of practices that support workforce health and wellbeing
are important in optimising retention of current workforce. CHQ has a core value of ‘Care: we look after
each other’. This will be tested as the system is impacted by the increased COVID-19 infections16.
CHQ is well positioned to respond to supporting staff and minimising the risk of burnout. The CHQ
Wellbeing program has four main domains:
• Promotion of wellbeing and mental health by reducing barriers to help seeking and improving
accessibility of resources (e.g., timely communication of practical and emotional supports, help seeking
resources, employee assistance program, QHEPs pages, staff portal/extranet, education initiatives,
wellbeing messages and Comms)
• Prevention of harm through proactive initiatives to keep staff well and building psychological safety
(e.g., Reflective Practice Groups for high risk areas, Schwartz Rounds, Recovery Rituals Training
Packages, Health promotion activities - wellbeing centre, physical, financial, social, psychological
wellbeing)
13 COVID-19 Pandemic Workforce Surge Plan (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 29 November 2021 14 https://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/hr/coronavirus/covid19-wellbeing accessed 29 November 2021 15 Queensland Health pandemic influenza plan - May 2018 accessed 29 November 2021 16 Our vision and values | Children’s Health Queensland accessed 29 November 2021
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• Early Intervention to enable staff to recognise the early signs of stress, build awareness of psycho-
social risks, and target support pathways (e.g., CHeQing In, Exec CHeQin, Crisis Support Services,
Psychological First Aid Training, Site Specific Peer Support Programs - 9b, 10A, Anaesthetics, Doctors-
in-Training, Emergency, Oncology, ORS, PICU, SBYH, Psycho-social Risk Assessments)
• Support in managing wellbeing in challenging times through reactive initiatives, targeting high risk
areas, leaders' resources, and consistent pathways for escalating support in times of need (e.g., CHQ
Post Incident Support Pathways resources, Leaders’ support, leaders education packages, Clinical
Event Debriefing pilot, Peer Support Responder Post Incident Support Check-Ins)
CHQ’s Wellbeing Program also collaborates with Doctors Health Queensland and Nurse and Midwife
Support Service. As well as strong advocates of support services such as eMHPrac, Hand-n-Hand Peer
Support, Ethi-call, and Pandemic Kindness Movement.
Regular check-ins or open communication with employees regarding changes to personal circumstances
and leave requirements due to the evolving impact of COVID-19. This includes the clinical council and
executive staff rounding process to check in on clinical areas and frontline services.
Rostering
All areas of CHQ will need to adjust to the emergent workforce changes with the modification of roster
arrangements, with the aim of avoiding cross-contamination of sections of the workforce and to respond to
the impact of COVID-19 measures on workforce availability.
This may result in extended periods of work, less time for rest and recovery and greater uncertainty in
relation to work arrangements. This presents elevated risk associated with psychosocial hazards of stress,
burnout and fatigue. All three of these hazards can increase the risk of harm to health and the likelihood of
error.
The aim is to plan for workforce strategies to be identified and implemented, therefore minimising
workplace fatigue due to rosters and roster changes. Industrial consultation and open communication of
challenges should be undertaken, in line with industrial agreements.
Role of CHQ COVID Incident Management Team (IMT)
It is anticipated that during Tier 1 response to COVID-19 will be managed by current or initial processes.
When there is an inability to increase capacity due to staff availability and skill mix this must be escalated
to the CHQ COVID-19 IMT.
Workforce flowcharts have been developed for the three MOC identified throughout this document, as well
as additional considerations for the CHQ COVID-19 IMT beyond local response.
The CHQ COVID IMT workforce decisions will be supported through monitoring of vacancies levels, leave
and types of leave and accessing of EAP services.
Establish key retention initiatives and considerations that will be undertaken during
periods of peak activity.
Consider service line/divisional roster support functions to enable clinical staff to work to full scope of practice.
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Provision of IT infrastructure
The ability of IT to support the workforce will be essential to respond to emergent need, for example
furlough staff who have identified that they would like to work from home, agile movement of technology
as services need to be moved.
First Nations response
Throughout the COVID-19 response culturally safe care to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island patients
will require additional workforce consideration.
The DOH Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Division have developed some COVID-19
resources for First Nations Response, included in these is the COVID-19 HHS preparedness checklist for
Queensland’s First Nations people. This document identifies that consideration of key roles, such as
Indigenous Health Liaison Officers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Heath Workers and other
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff are considered in planning for supporting COVID-19 patients
and families.
Professional Streams
The professional streams all have unique opportunities or challenges in the ability to respond to workforce
surge requirements. The below key professional streams and administration outlines some context.
Nursing
There has been advanced planning for industrially supported nurse focused documentation, with the intent
to support the health system’s ability to respond to COVID-19. In addition to the Nurses and Midwives
COVID-19 industrial relations principles, the following documents have been developed:
• Nurses and Midwives Principles poster
• Nurses and Midwives workload management guide
• Nursing and Midwifery workload management during COVID-19 flowchart
• Business Planning Framework and nurse-to-patient ratios during COVID-19
The documents identify the Four ACCE considerations when nurses are making decisions:
• Authorised by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) to practice the profession
• Competent through recency of experience to undertake clinical requirements
• Confident to undertake clinical practice
• Educated by having undertaken appropriate educational preparation for the performance of care
activity
Identification of key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander roles and the support for Indigenous patients and families, with consideration of workforce to meet demand.
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It is the responsibility for all Enrolled Nurses (EN) and Registered Nurses (RN) to work in line with the
NMBA Decision-making framework for nursing and midwifery (DMF). The DMF is a guide to decision-
making relating to scope of practice, delegation and to promote consistent, safe, patient centred and
evidence-based decision making17.
Medical
There are challenges with current Junior Medical workforce roles being filled, this will be a compounded
when the COVID-19 surge demand occurs. The medical workforce response will focus on meeting
service needs with workforce strategies such as deployment, as required, with service prioritisation of non-
acute and elective care.
Initial discussions to meet the demand for the Virtual Care MOC (the additional workforce is required when
there are more than 50 patients). The planning is centred on:
• an Expression of Interest (EOI) for Junior Medical Officers (JMO) Workforce, Senior Medical Officers
(SMO) is being developed by the Executive Director of Medical Services
• centralized coordination of identifying medical workforce availability for overtime, increased hours or
allocation or medical workforce if services are reduced in other areas
• rosters for staffing Virtual Ward to be established
There are risks that have been identified, including:
• inadequate medical staff due to lack of a pool
• furloughing of medical staff and the ability for virtual clinics or care to be provided as a remote (work
from home) model
• rapid credentialing and scope of practice for SMO workforce as services are scaled down or up and
deployment occurs
• delegation and oversight for payment of overtime for JMO’s.
Allied health
There is no allied health relief pool to use and increase the ability to meet emergent demand. There are
some other strategies that have been identified to support the COVID-19 response:
• Allied Health Assistants (approximately 62 headcount) work under a delegated model and could be
deployed to areas of need
• Currently, CHQ does not have an Allied Health pool or equivalent. Specific professions utilise a small
casual pool workforce including Respiratory Science, Sleep Science, Physiotherapy weekend cover,
Social Work After Hours (SWEHPS), Queensland Poisons Information Centre.
17 Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia - Frameworks (nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au) accessed 29 November 2021
Dedicated work on the Medical workforce to consider plans (such as the Medical Workforce Deployment Plan) to meet the projected demand, including EOI for JMO and SMO’s.
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• Allied Health Students (3rd or final year) could be employed as an HP1 to support appropriate work – a
role description would need to be developed. This cohort of staff could set up as a casual pool.
• Additional capability uplift is planned for ward 9A (COVID Ward)
• Contingency plans have been developed to maximise workforce where it is most needed and reduce
less urgent services in the short term
• Expansion of allied health staff workforce may be required to support the virtual ward MOC.
Additionally, this cohort of patients may require social work and or psychology services however other
professions such as Pharmacists and Physiotherapists may need to be scaled according to patient
numbers.
• Some allied health professions can be deployed to COVID-19 testing clinics (i.e. Occupational
Therapists, Physiotherapists, Podiatrists, Dietitians and Speech Pathologists)
• There are a small number of highly specialised/skilled allied health clinical leads and consultants.
Retention of these employees is critical, however also need to plan skill uplift and training of other staff
to maintain service delivery.
Administration
The Administration Relief Pool - CHQ is well positioned to support the CHQ COVID-19 surge response.
There is extensive experience in the Administration Relief Pool - CHQ management team, with clear
contingencies in place.
Consideration of CHQ administrative staff with skills suitable for key areas of need could be included in
the EOI for the MOC.
Workforce strategies
There are workforce strategies that will be required to be implemented to meet the surge workforce
demand.
Permanent Nurse Pool/Casual Nurse Pool
The CHQ Permanent Nurse Pool currently covers Assistants in Nursing (AIN), Undergraduate Nursing
Student in Nursing (USiN), EN and RN emergent and short-term coverage in clinical areas. This includes
the COVID-19 response for COVID Testing Clinics and Hotel Quarantine support. It has been identified
that the Nurse Pool will be a primary source of AIN, USiN, EN and RN staff during the COVID-19
response.
Consideration of developing HP1 (Allied Health Student) roles, requires role description and agreement of role suitability.
Deployment strategies to be considered for allied health professional and the associated sub-subspecialisation of clinician.
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The CHQ Permanent Nurse Pool is separated out to defined areas (related to function and or skill):
• Emergent pool: comprising of RN 38 FTE, EN 2 FTE and AIN 3 FTE
• Casual nursing pool: AIN, Undergraduate Nursing Student in Nursing (USiN) and RN positions. With a
20 FTE transition to paediatric program planned to upskill more non paediatric nurses into the nursing
team in April/May 2022.
• Permanent casual pool: comprising of 90 RNs, 3 ENs, 37 USiNs and 25 AIN’s
• COVID Nurse Pool (Approved and currently being set up): 15 additional RN staff are being recruited in
December with broad training across generic COVID related tasks and skills that can be used and
deployed to support a range of clinical services and acute COVID response.
The casual and permanent nurse pools are supported by 1FTE Nurse Educator and 1 FTE Clinical
Practice Facilitator. There are plans for the nurse education team to increase, when required, to support
an increase in employees.
CHQ has developed a transition program as part of the Casual and permanent pool for experienced
nurses to transition rapidly to paediatric settings and services.
USiN refresh
A number of USiN employees have now graduated; this is a cohort of workforce that requires annual
recruitment to replace the USiNs who graduate their studies. The USiN is a valuable workforce that will
support clinical teams during peak demand. The role will be particularly valuable in:
• COVID-19 Vaccination in clinics, in line with the QH Vaccination Code18
• Team nursing
• Support for Supervised Accommodation for Kids in Queensland
• Reallocation of nursing task, appropriate to scope of practice CHQ-PROC-30551 Delegation,
Supervision and Scope of Practice: Nursing and Unlicensed Roles
• CHQ employees 41 USiNs with a broad skill set in emergency and most inpatient wards. Of this
number, 37 of the USiN workforce report to the casual pool, 4 report to the Emergency Department.
• USiNs at CHQ have been, and can continue to be, used to support other functions such as the COVID-
19 testing Clinic and vaccination clinics.
Graduate nurse transition program
The graduate nurse transition program is designed to introduce and build on core concepts related to
specialty paediatric nursing in a supportive and educational environment. Annual recruitment occurs and
has significant capacity to expand, if required.
18 COVID-19 Vaccination Code (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 29 November 2021
Additional recruitment of employees into the Nurse Pool, further consultation and discussion is required.
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Experienced nurse program
There is the opportunity to attract employees who may be interested in mid-career changes to change
from adult patients to paediatric, at CHQ. This may be general adult nurses, moving into paediatrics or
even specialty staff such as mental health, intensive care etc. It would be expected that an initial cohort
would be approximately 30 nurses, noting that this will require a dedicated educator to support the cohort
and expedite upskilling.
Administration Relief Pool - CHQ
The Administration Relief Pool - CHQ provides casual Administration Officers (AO) resources throughout
the organisation. The focus of the Administration Relief Pool - CHQ is AO2 and AO3 roles, roles beyond
this level require an EOI.
The Administration Relief Pool - CHQ is well positioned to support the CHQ COVID-19 surge response.
There is extensive experience in the Administration Relief Pool - CHQ management team, with clear
contingencies in place. The total number of staff on the relief pool is 177 headcount, with most on a
contract within CHQ, only 25 are currently strictly casual.
The following proactive strategies are in place:
• Volunteer lists for overtime: these will be sought in advance of identified need
• Experience and competence: there are clear records of where Pool staff have previously worked, as
well as competencies in these areas
• Skills Matric for all roles CHQ (all requirements for roles AO2-AO4 within CHQ- such as systems,
business modules and mandatory training)
• Areas of prioritization have been identified: these are areas with anticipated high sick leave or
additional need.
• Increased recruitment: commencing in November 2021, the Administration Relief Pool manager has
been recruiting casual staff to prepare for the coming surge workforce requirements
• Onboarding: current onboarding will continue, this covers the systems in the areas of most specialized
need (wards, Outpatients Department)
• Experienced Pool staff could be redeployed to areas of need
It is worth noting that the Digital Futures team provides the training to the staff on the Administration Relief
Pool – CHQ, consideration and planning for illness and increased demand should be included in the
contingency planning.
Consider developing an experienced nurse program to complement other workforce strategies.
Consideration of administration workforce (noting skills and grades), including cohort of employees interested, and suitable, for higher duties that would support the COVID surge response.
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Part time extra shifts
Additional hours for part time employees, the CHQ workforce data shows that there may be some
flexibility in the parttime workforce to increase hours. This is not seen as a sustainable strategy in covering
additional shifts, as there is often a reason that part time employment is sought, e.g. family commitments,
study, health reasons, transition to retirement, return from maternity/ paternity leave.
Overtime
The use of overtime should only be considered for a shift by shift emergent need, it is not a strategy that
should be considered acceptable beyond that, unless every other alternative has been exhausted. This
has the potential to result in employee fatigue with the associated clinical risk to this, as well as burnout
with the risk of attrition of the CHQ specialised workforce.
Capability uplift
As strategies are considered, the capability uplift that will be required needs to be factored into the time
and resourcing (both for the staff member and the educator). There will be a need for key roles to be
implemented for education with the following strategies, noting that usual ward resources will likely be
consumed with shift by shift emergent need:
• Deployment of staff
• USiNs
• Nurse Pool
• AO Pool
• Rapid upskill for adult clinical staff into paediatric care
• Upskill for non-acute paediatric staff to deliver acute care
Scope of practice
There are roles and tasks that can be reviewed to ensure that CHQ is maximising its clinical workforce to
work to full scope of practice. Some considerations are:
• Reallocation of tasks: eg rostering, stock resupply
• Consider alternate workforce with scope to undertake role, for example:
– Vaccination clinics: vaccination can be undertaken by alternate workforce, either independently or
under direct supervision 19
19 COVID-19 Vaccination Code (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 29 November 2021
Further mapping of capability uplift requirements across all professions is required. Once extent understood there will need to be dedicated educators to upskill the workforce.
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 16 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
– COVID-19 testing: can be undertaken by alternate workforce such as AIN, oral health therapists20
Deployment
Deployment has been outlined earlier in this document, with reference to the Deployment during COVID-
19 Guideline21.
At CHQ, in addition to managers having discussion with their employees, there will be a centralised
process where employees self-nominate an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the three key MOC. At the
same time, managers may be asked to consider a percentage of their workforce that could be used when
required for surge workforce. This can be undertaken during the planning phase.
Statewide surge pools
In the event that demand exceeds local workforce resources, a request for assistance can be undertaken
by the CHQ COVID IMT sending a Request for Assistance Form to the State Health Emergency
Coordination Centre (SHECC). At this time, the following actions will be taken by SHECC:
• SHECC will contact CHQ to discuss possible solutions and confirm all local resources have been
exhausted
• request details will be forwarded to other HHS Hospital Emergency Operations Centre’s, for assistance.
• SHECC will liaise with the State or other Agencies where required
• details of the request will be forwarded to the department’s surge pool22
Other surge workforces can be requested by using the Public Service Commission talent pools by
emailing [email protected]. The following talent pools can be accessed through this
method:
• Administration staff
• Epidemiologists
• Environmental health/public health officers
20 COVID-19 Pandemic Workforce Surge Plan (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 29 November 2021 21 Deployment during COVID-19 (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 29 November 2021 22 COVID-19 Pandemic Workforce Surge Plan (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 4 December 2021
To support all employees to work to full scope of practice there are tasks that can be undertaken safely by other professions, having early discussions and documentation would support emergent workforce challenges.
Develop EOI for employees to self-nominate interest in deployment to the three key MOC (additional information in the EOI can identify if additional hours will be part time increased hours or overtime)
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 17 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Models of Care
The CHQ Workforce Prioritisation plan has been developed to support the key MOC identified as
strategies for the 2022 increased cases in Queensland. The following documents have been developed as
A3 standalone plans on a page, the overarching document provides context, additional information, and
industrial context to support any workforce challenges at CHQ.
Each of these workforce plans on a page are available as attachments:
• CHQ-PLAN-20300-1 Workforce Plan: COVID-19 Virtual Ward
• CHQ-PLAN-20300-2 Workforce Plan: Supervised Accommodation for Kids in Queensland
• CHQ-PLAN-20300-3 Workforce Plan: COVID Ward 9A
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 18 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
CHQ overarching workforce flowchart
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 19 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Communications plan
This section has been developed to identify key stakeholders of the CHQ Workforce Prioritisation Plan
during development and at publication. The plan has been developed to be continuously reviewed, refined
and improved to ensure that it remains ft for purpose.
Objectives
• Increase awareness of the industrial context of workforce strategy and the potential workforce solutions
for responding to COVID-19
• Engagement of key professional leads for the continued improvement and ownership of the CHQ
Workforce Prioritisation Plan
• Ensure stakeholders are aware of the CHQ Workforce Prioritisation Plan and can contribute to the
continued improvement
Key stakeholders
Three groups of stakeholders have been identified as follows:
Development Key leaders invovled in the
developement and continued improvement of the plan
Executive Director Clinical Services (EDCS)
Executive Director of People and Governance (EDPG)
CHQ Professional leads (EDMS, EDNS, EDAH)
Director Aborigional and Torres Strait Islanders
Director Human Resources
Director Administrative Services
Manager Workforce Strategy
PartnersKey groups that consultation is essential to the success of
the plan
Industrial partners (through the Union Consultative Forum –COVID-19 Subcommittee)
HSCE
Executive Leadership team
CHQ COVID IMT
Tier two leadership
Finance
Workforce leads for professions
CHQ stakeholders Key stakeholders to be
informed of the plan, identify further refinements to the
professional leads
Human Resources
Line managers
Divisional Managers
Nurse Pool
Administration relief pool
IT
Education teams
Work Health and Safety
Communcations team
Governance team
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 20 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Key communication channels
The following table has been developed to identify communication channels for the partners identified:
Consideration Consultation method and intent Lead
Consultation with Industrial partners
Union Consultative Forum – COVID-19 Subcommittee
• Early discussions and feedback on workforce strategies for COVID-19 response, including risks
• Open communication channel
EDCS, EDPG
Health Service Chief Executive (HSCE)
Through CHQ COVID IMT
• awareness of the plan and challenges with high level system support
EDCS
Executive leadership team
ELT discussion
• Identify key document related to workforce in the COVID response
• Identify any other workforce considerations
EDCS
CHQ COVID IMT Discussion at CHQ COVID IMT
• Awareness of document, endorsement for publication as COVID response document on QHEPS (engaging Comms and Governance)
EDCS
Tier two leadership
Initial discussion at Task and Finish 26 November 2021. Further update at Task and Finish required.
• Identification of work being undertaken for plan, including rapid development and reduced consultation. Opportunity for further consultation and refinement in early 2022 when document is refreshed.
EDCS
Manager Workforce Strategy and Optimisation
Finance Through the ELT and Tier 2 leadership high level engagement and awareness of the impacts of the plan.
• Early identification of COVID Ion requirements and financial risks
EDCS, CFO, EDPG
Workforce leads for professions
Through the Executive Directors
• consultation of the workforce leads is essential in the identification of workforce strategies and addressing the action plan
EDCS
EDMS
EDNS
EDAH
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 21 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Action plan
The following actions were identified throughout the document for further consideration, the current timeframes mean that this work will require
prioritisation.
Action item No. Action Section Accountable lead Date due
1 The ability to respond with agility will require industrial relations resources.
3. Industrial Considerations EDPG
2 The local completion and agreement for modifications for vulnerable staff is undertaken by line managers, a process needs to be developed so there is organisational visibility of the workforce risk.
4. Work Health and Safety EDCS/EDPG
3 Establish key retention initiatives and considerations that will be undertaken during periods of peak activity.
5. Key workforce considerations: 5.2 Retention
EDMS/EDNS/ EDAH/ Director of Admin
4 Consider service line/divisional roster support functions to enable clinical staff to work to full scope of practice.
5.3 Rostering Director of Admin /EDCS
5 Identification of key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander roles and the support for Indigenous patients and families, with consideration of workforce to meet demand.
5.7 First Nations Response Director of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Engagement/ EDCS
6 Dedicated work on the Medical workforce to consider plans (such as the Medical Workforce Deployment Plan) to meet the projected demand, including EOI for JMO and SMO’s.
6. Professional Streams 6.2 Medical
EDMS
7 Consideration of developing HP1 (Allied Health Student) roles, requires role description and agreement of role suitability.
6.3 Allied Health EDAH
8 Deployment strategies to be considered for allied health professional and the associated sub-subspecialisation of clinician.
6.3 Allied Health EDAH
9 Additional recruitment of employees into the Nurse Pool, further consultation and discussion is required.
7. Workforce Strategies 7.1 Permanent Nurse Pool/ Casual Nurse Pool
EDNS
10 Consider developing an experienced nurse program to complement other workforce strategies.
7.4 Experienced Nurse program EDNS
11 Consideration of administration workforce (noting skills and grades), including cohort of employees interested and suitable for higher duties that would support the COVID surge response.
7.5 Administration Relief Pool - CHQ
Director of Admin / EDCS
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 22 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Action item No. Action Section Accountable lead Date due
12 Further mapping of capability uplift requirements across all professions is required. Once extent understood there will need to be dedicated educators to upskill the workforce.
7.8 Capability uplift EDMS/EDNS/EDAH/ Director of Admin /EDCS
13 Review workforce in vaccination clinic and testing clinic to ensure workforce is working to full scope of practice.
7.9 Scope of practice EDCS
14 Develop EOI for employees to self-nominate interest in deployment to the three key MOC (additional information in the EOI can identify professional group, grade and if additional hours will be part time increased hours or overtime).
7.10 Deployment EDMS/EDNS/EDAH/ Director of Admin /EDCS
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 23 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Supporting documents
Authorising Legislation, Policy and Standard/s
• CHQ-PLAN-60701 CHQ Pandemic Sub-Plan 2020
Procedures, Guidelines and Protocols
• CHQ Governance Structure (Pandemic Response)
• COVID-19 Industrial Relations Principles Guidelines23:
• Nurses and Midwives
• Medical Officers
• Administrative, Operational, professional and Technical Officers
• Health Practitioners and Dental Officers
• Deployment during COVID-19 Guideline
• COVID-19 Work Health and Safety Management Plan
• CHQ-PROC-20019 P2/N95 Mask Use, Fit Testing and Training
• CHQ-WI-20016 P2/N95 Mask Fit Testing - Qualitative
• COVID-19 HHS preparedness checklist for Queensland’s First Nations people
• Nurses and Midwives COVID-19 industrial relations principles
• Nurses and Midwives Principles poster
• Nurses and Midwives workload management guide
• Nursing and Midwifery workload management during COVID-19 flowchart
• Business Planning Framework and nurse-to-patient ratios during COVID-19
• NMBA Decision-making framework for nursing and midwifery
• QH Vaccination Code
• CHQ-PROC-30551 Delegation, Supervision and Scope of Practice: Nursing and Unlicensed Roles
• Deployment during COVID-19 Guideline
Forms and Templates
• COVID-19 and managing employee health risks
• Request for Assistance Form
• CHQ-PLAN-20300-1 Workforce Plan: COVID-19 Virtual Ward
• CHQ-PLAN-20300-2 Workforce Plan: Supervised Accommodation for Kids in Queensland
• CHQ-PLAN-20300-3 Workforce Plan: COVID Ward 9A
23 COVID-19 Industrial Relations Principles (health.qld.gov.au) accessed 24 November 2021
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 24 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Consultation
Key stakeholders who reviewed this version:
• Manager, Workforce Strategy and Optimisation
• Health Service Chief Executive
• Executive Director Clinical Services
• Executive Director Allied Health
• Executive Director Corporate Services/ Chief Finance Officer
• Executive Director Communications, Culture and Engagement
• Executive Director Strategy, Planning, Improvement and Innovation
• Director Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement
• Executive Director Nursing Services
• Executive Director Medical Services
• Executive Director People and Culture
• Director Office of Health Service Chief Executive
• A/Divisional Director CYMHS
• A/Divisional Director CYCHS
• Manager Improvement and Innovation
Definition of terms
Term Definition
AO Administration Officer
AIN Assistant in Nursing
CHQ Children’s Health Queensland
DMF Decision Making Framework
DisMaP Disruption and Disaster Management Plans
EDAH Executive Director of Allied Health
EDCS Executive Director of Clinical Services
EDMS Executive Director of Medical Services
EDNS Executive Director of Nursing Services
EDPG Executive Director of People and Governance
EN Enrolled Nurse
EOI Expression of Interest
FTE Full time equivalent
HP Health Professional
HHS Hospital and Health Service
IMT Incident Management Team
JMO Junior Medical Officer
Framework
CHQ-PLAN-20300 CHQ COVID-19 Workforce Prioritisation Plan
Page 25 of 25 Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
MOC Model of Care
NMBA Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
RN Registered Nurse
SHECC State Health Emergency Coordination Centre
SWEHPS Social Work After Hours
USiN Undergraduate Student in Nursing
Revision and approval history
Version No. Modified by Amendments authorised by
Approved by
1.0
15/12/2021
Manager, Workforce Strategy and Optimisation
CHQ COVID IMT
2.0
27/01/2022
Manager, Workforce Strategy and Optimisation
CHQ COVID IMT Executive Director People and Governance
Keywords COVID-19, workforce, deployment, COVID, retention, rostering, IMT, Incident Management Team, Response, permanent nurse pool, casual nurse pool, USiN, extra shifts, administration relief poof, admin relief pool, capability uplift, overtime, graduate nurse transition program, statewide surge pools, virtual ward, supervised accommodation for kids, 9A covid ward, Prioritisation plan, 20300
Accreditation references
NSQHS Standards (1-8): 1 Clinical Governance, 3 Preventing and controlling Healthcare Associated Infections
ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems: (4-10)