Healthcare

How will technology evolve the sector?

Australia’s healthcare sector is entering a period of unprecedented change thanks to the twin drivers of greater digitisation and rising customer expectations, coupled with an ageing population. The rapid introduction of technology for clinical care and patient management is creating immediate requirements for stronger digital skills across the workforce, particularly in relation to interaction with electronic health records. The massive volumes of data now being generated by the sector is also placing specific emphasis on the need for data analytics skills.

Concurrently the emergence of person-centric healthcare models is lifting requirements for soft skills within the sector, including human-centered design skills for service creation. There is also an emphasis on skills relating to patient care and customer service to become the interface between technology and the patient.

How will the demand for healthcare workers evolve over the next decade?

We predict that the growth in demand for workers in healthcare will outpace all other sectors of the Australian economy over the next 10 years. This in part reflects demographic trends, such as an ageing population, but also the sector’s relatively low exposure to technological automation.

Performing important tasks, such as assisting and caring and interpreting information for others, will most likely remain in the domain of human workers over this time horizon.

Our analysis suggests demand for nurses and childcare workers will grow by over 12%, with social care professionals and general medical practitioners also set to grow by more than 8%.

We expect certain occupations to buck the trend and contract, such as health care assistants. This is because the specific nature of their role provides greater scope for automation, with a greater weight placed on tasks such as routine administration and capturing and monitoring information.

The future of jobs and skills needed

How widespread are skills shortfalls for new entrants to this sector?

Over the next decade, workers will be drawn in from other parts of the economy to meet the rising demand of healthcare. Each entrant will bring their own experience and skillset but will often need to reskill to succeed in their new role.

Our analysis suggests it is social perceptiveness, service orientation and coordination, that will most commonly be lacking. These are important skillsets in the sector and more than half of the available talent pool falls short of the required level of skills to fill the emerging vacancies.

In the healthcare sector, the reskilling effort will be most acute for programming and technology design with new entrants to roles demanding those skills falling 55% and 42% short of the required level, respectively. For the skills requiring widespread training provision, mentioned above, the learning gaps to bridge are relatively shallow compared to these more technical skills. This is because most candidates that will apply for vacancies in healthcare will come from similar sectors and professions, and will therefore bring with them highly relevant experience.