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In the Health Workforce planning there are basically two dimensions to consider:
- The targeted quantities for any health profession, that can be expressed in working full time equivalents or in headcount;
- The year in which these set quantities are to be accomplished, which, in most cases is the biggest challenge.
On both the time dimension and the quantity dimension it is common to set different goals for different professions.
Goals have to be Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART):
- The goal has to be specific in at least the two named dimensions;
- The degree of acceptance of a set goal is crucial;
- The goal has to be realistic from the perspective of the health field stakeholders and from the perspective of the government;Goals shared or agreed with stakeholdersThe goals will have to be agreed upon by the stakeholders;
- To reach agreement on the set goals, different methods can be used;
- Participation of the stakeholders in the process of setting the goals is advisable;
Transparency and communication of the goals and of the reached results
- Regular communication on the topics under revision and on monitor results of the progress made is essential to keep stakeholders involvement guaranteed;
- The planning instrument has to be at the disposal of all stakeholders in order to create a level playing field;
Decision making process: goals set by one or many ministries
- Usually there are at least 3 ministries involved in setting of the goals;
- The health workforce planning team should provide an advice to the ministries;
- In the unlikely event that ministries do not reach consensus on the goals, it’s important that the other stakeholders intervene in order to reach an equilibrium between needs and supply.
Download the document [PDF 317 KB] (Setting Targets for the Planning System)