sector skills plan for the health sector in south africa

5.8 FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SUPPLY OF SKILLS
Apart from the institutional strengths and constraints described earlier in this chapter, a number of
other factors also impact, or are set to impact, on the supply of skills in the future. These include
government strategies and policy interventions, the management of public sector health facilities, the
migration of South African health professionals, the recruitment of foreign professionals, and the socioeconomic
realities faced by many potential professionals.
5.8.1 GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES AND POLICY INTERVENTIONS
Over the last few years government has introduced a number of strategies and plans to improve the
supply of health workers. A few of these interventions are discussed below:
a) Nursing
Healthcare provision in South Africa is affected by the global shortage of nurses. Both the public and
private sectors have suffered losses of experienced nursing professionals who are regarded as essential
components in the overall healthcare delivery system. In response to these losses the SANC and the
national DoH developed the Nursing Strategy for South Africa to “achieve and maintain an adequate
supply of nursing professionals who are appropriately educated, distributed and deployed to meet the
health needs of all South Africans”. 196 This strategy was published in 2008. Important elements of this
strategy are to provide sufficient numbers and appropriate categories of nursing skills through goodquality
education and training and to maintain high standards, professionalism and quality in nursing
practice.
In 2004 the SANC revised the scope of practice of nurses into new categories: professional nurse,
professional midwife, staff nurse, and auxiliary nurse. 197 New educational qualifications were developed
which are aligned to the revised scope of practice. The SANC planned to phase out several nursing
qualifications that had existed prior to the NQF by 30 June 2010. However, this deadline was extended
due to delays in the publication of regulations to facilitate the implementation of the new scopes of
practice for the different categories of nurses and their respective qualifications. 198 The implementation
of the revised scope of practice and the new qualifications will follow in the near future and the success
of implementation will depend in part on the availability of sufficient and suitably qualified educators
with appropriate academic and clinical skills. 199
196 DoH. 2008. Nursing Strategy for South Africa. Published at http://www.sanc.co.za/pdf/nursing-strategy.pdf. (Accessed
August 2010).
197 The previous categories were registered nurse, registered midwife, enrolled nurse and enrolled midwife.
198 South African Nursing Council. 2009. “Implementation of the new Nursing Qualifications registered on the National
Qualifications Framework (NQF)”. SANC Circular 3/2009. Published at http://www.sanc.co.za/newsc903.htm. (Accessed August
2010).
199 DoH. 2008. Nursing Strategy for South Africa. Published at http://www.sanc.co.za/pdf/nursing-strategy.pdf. (Accessed
August 2010).
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