This article showcases the leadership of Gateway Health in supporting its health promotion workforce to become Registered Health Promotion Practitioners.
Background
The Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA®) implements the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) Health Promotion Accreditation System in Australia and is designated as the National Accreditation Organisation (NAO). As of December 2024, there were 137 Registered Health Promotion Practitioners in Australia - the highest number of any country.
Gateway Health
Gateway Health is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and a registered Community Health Service under the Health Services Act 1988 (Vic). Gateway Health provides community health and wellbeing services to individuals, families and communities across North East Victoria and parts of Southern New South Wales. Services are provided across the lifespan, from childhood to becoming a parent, adulthood and older age. Many of these services operate at the interface between acute care, aged care and primary health care to ensure a seamless transition of care between healthcare providers. Of its more than 390 employees, six work part-time in health promotion.
Prioritising a registered health promotion workforce
Gateway Health supported registration due to the significant benefits it identified in having a registered health promotion workforce:
- Workforce quality: A registered health promotion team ensures accountability for contemporary health promotion practice by adhering to the core competencies and professional standards that underpin registration.
- Strategic alignment: Meeting the education and professional development requirements for registration helps staff stay current with the latest sector developments, leading to more effective and innovative health promotion practice.
- Reputational value: Registration guarantees that Gateway Health’s work is credible, ethical, evidence-based and consistently of the highest quality, providing assurance to communities, partners and funding bodies.
- Competitive advantage: A registered workforce strengthens Gateway Health’s position when applying for grants, contracts, or tenders, as funders and partners prefer organisations with demonstrated expertise and skilled staff.
Providing organisational support to its health promotion workforce
Gateway Health provided extensive support to its health promotion workforce to facilitate their registration:
- Integration into planning: Included registration as a workforce development activity in its Community Health - Health Promotion Plan submitted to the Victorian Government.
- Dedicated time: Allocated time during working hours over six months for the team to draft their registration applications.
- Collaboration with AHPA: AHPA ran two online workshops on registration requirements and processes, along with peer support and additional resources.
- Application support: Organised two brainstorming sessions to discuss work examples and evidence for each core competency, helping staff develop their applications.
- Financial support: Covered registration costs, including the application fee, individual annual membership, and a one-year registration fee, as part of continuing professional development.
Outcome of supporting health promotion workforce registration
All six part-time members of Gateway Health’s health promotion team met the required qualifications and/or work experience to apply for registration. Following the assessment process, all team members were deemed eligible and became IUHPE Registered Health Promotion Practitioners.
The impact of achieving registration has been far reaching. The team now has greater confidence in their roles, resulting in stronger advocacy for their communities, the health promotion profession, and the role of community health in improving population health outcomes.
Supporting workforce registration has also strengthened connections between the Gateway Health team, AHPA, and other professional networks, fostering increased opportunities for collaboration, capacity building, and resource sharing.
By promoting a culture of quality and continuous learning, workforce registration has enabled Gateway Health to effectively respond to the evolving public health needs of the communities it serves.
Embedding health promotion registration moving forward
Gateway Health plans to:
- Incorporate registration into recruitment: Include health promotion registration as a desirable key selection criterion in position descriptions for health promotion roles.
- Integrate core competencies: Reflect on core competencies during six-monthly Professional Development and Performance meetings with staff.
- Support continuous professional development: Encourage activities such as evidence reviews, journal clubs, and participation in AHPA professional development opportunities to meet registration continuous professional development requirements.
- Recognise registration: Formally acknowledge staff registration by including it in organisational email signatures.
Gateway Health’s advice to other health promotion workforce employers
Meg Scolyer, Health Promotion Practitioner Lead at Gateway Health, recommends organisations support their workforce to become registered.
“My advice to employers is to invest in their health promotion staff. Registration will help them build their confidence and better articulate their role, leading to increased productivity and more strategic outputs.”