HRH Strategy for the Health Sector: 2012/13–2016/17

Workforce planning for the health service is challenging and complex. Nonetheless, workforce planning is an important process. The health, policy, legislative and economic context influence the task of visualising and implementing improvements in the health workforce. The policy context provides the framework for the development of the HRH Strategy. The Minister of Health, in his Budget Speech in May 2011, announced the re-engineering of the primary healthcare system and an overhaul of the health system. Implementing the three main streams for re-engineering Primary Healthcare is the short-term priority. These streams are: District Clinical Specialist Teams, Community Outreach PHC Teams and the School Health Programme.
The problem statement: An overview of the trends and challenges in HRH for South Africa is grouped into three thematic areas. For each thematic area the key issues are highlighted and brief recommendations, which informed the HRH Strategy, are provided.