Across Australia, providing sustainable primary care services in small rural communities (<1000 population) has been increasingly challenging. It is acknowledged that health system planners must take coordinated action to strengthen systems to enable a community-empowered response to such challenges. In partnership with the Australian Government, Collaborative Care is a whole-of-system approach used in five Australian rural sub-regions to align communities, organisations, policy and funding levers with a common purpose in health workforce and service planning.

Australia has recently been heavily impacted by natural disasters and emergencies including drought, bushfire, floods and COVID-19. The New South Wales Rural Doctors Network (RDN) and partners developed and implemented strategies to support the primary health care response during this challenging time.

A study of 258 Australian outreach health practitioners during COVID-19 found 92.2% were satisfied. Key factors for satisfaction were good communication, a blended telehealth/in-person approach, and high self-rated capability, all vital for staff retention.

This paper examines staff perceptions of implementing a performance measurement framework in a non-acute health charity. Participants supported the framework, identifying six key themes: clarity, adaptability, alignment, transparent communication, capability, and accountability. The study suggests this framework may also be useful for other non-profit industries.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Non-acute Health Charity Performance Implementation Framework (NCPI) Framework for implementing Organisational Performance Measurement (OPM) in a non-acute health charity. Using mixed methods research over 12 months, results showed significant improvements in OPM utility and usability, with six key success themes identified: clarity, adaptability, alignment, transparent communication, capability, and accountability.

This study investigates patient experiences and satisfaction with rural outreach clinics in New South Wales, Australia. Of the 207 participants, 93% were satisfied with the services. The respectful behavior of healthcare practitioners was significantly associated with higher patient satisfaction.

The 2021-22 Primary Health Workforce Needs Assessment Summary Report seeks to inform, and guide effective responses by articulating the current state of the primary health workforce in NSW and identifying needs in the following priority areas: access, quality and future planning. It explores factors such as natural disasters and emergencies, internet connectivity and health workforce capability.

This study explored rural health professionals' perceptions of health workforce capability and persuasive design techniques. It translated these insights into recommendations for designing an app to increase recruitment and retention of rural health professionals.

This qualitative study examines how digital solutions can promote rural health workforce capability. The findings provide insights into designing digital tools, such as health apps, to support rural health professionals' capability and improve their retention.

This systematic review examined 53 mobile apps to identify persuasive design techniques used to improve health workforce capability. It found that while primary task support was common, social support techniques were used less frequently and should be integrated more prominently in future apps.

This study explores how four rural towns in New South Wales used a collaborative care framework to improve health services and workforce planning. The framework proved a useful tool for community engagement and building health workforce literacy.

The 2020-21 Primary Health Workforce Needs Assessment (HWNA) Summary Report has reviewed and updated evidence in relation to the wider primary health workforce. It also includes data on emerging issues including natural disasters and emergencies such as the 2020 bushfires and COVID-19, internet connectivity, health workforce capability and predictors of intention to increase or reduce hours of work among GPs.