17
Workforce modelling project
With the population of New Zealand expected to grow by
17% by 2035 and the number of over-65-year-olds to double
by 2028, the Council in 2012 commissioned BERL (Business
and Economic Research Limited) to undertake an analysis of
nursing workforce supply requirements through to 2035.
The Council has an interest in workforce numbers as the
supply of nurses has an impact on public safety. Concern has
also been expressed in recent years about the aging of the
nursing workforce, but to date no whole-of-nursing workforce
projections have been developed to determine the size of the
problem or what should be done about it. The fndings of the
BERL report will be available in the later part of 2013.
Communicate fndings and implement
recommendations of CHRE audit
An independent external review of the Council by the British
Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) concluded
that the Council is an effective regulator with strong leadership
and a commitment to improve.
The Council sought the review in line with its commitment to
organisational effectiveness and to enable it to benchmark
its performance. The CHRE has an established process for
performance reviews, developed through undertaking annual
performance reviews of health professional regulatory bodies
in the United Kingdom and other organisations worldwide.
The CHRE found that the Council has a refective approach to
its work generally and commended its commitment to refecting
on its performance and to continuous improvement, noting
that: “Refective practice is a hallmark of professionalism”.
The Council asked the CHRE to focus its performance
assessment particularly on governance arrangements and the
management of nurse competence and ftness to practise.
The CHRE found the Council’s governance to be appropriate
and that the conduct, competence and health processes are
protecting the public.
It made a number of recommendations aimed at improvement
and best practice generally, but noted that these were not
addressing failures and did not mean that the Council’s
performance was inadequate. The Council welcomed the
review and developed an action plan to address many of the
suggested improvements.