Sustainable workforce : South African audiologists and speech therapists
Date
2020-07-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC (part of Springer Nature)
Abstract
Background: Audiologists and Speech Therapists play a vital role in addressing sustainable development goals by
supporting people who are marginalised due to communication challenges. The global burden of disease and poor
social living conditions impact negatively on the development of healthy communication, therefore requiring the
services of Audiologist and Speech therapists. Against this background, we examined the demographic profile and
the supply, need and shortfall of Audiologists and Speech Therapists in South Africa.
Methods: The data set was drawn from the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) registers (for 2002–
2017) for the speech, language and hearing professions. This demographic profile of the professions was created
based on the category of health personnel; category of practice, geographical location, population group (race) and
sex. The annual supply was estimated from the HPCSA database while the service–target approach was used to
estimate need. Additional need based on National Health Insurance Bill was also included. Supply–need gaps were
forecast according to three scenarios, which varied according to the future intensity of policy intervention to
increase occupancy of training places: ‘best guess’ (no intervention), ‘optimistic’ (feasible intervention), and
‘aspirational’ (significant intervention) scenarios up to 2030.
Results: Most (i.e. 1548, 47.4%) of the professionals are registered as Audiologists and Speech Therapists, followed
by 33.5% registered as Speech Therapists and 19.1% registered as Audiologists. Around 88.5% professionals
registered as Audiologists and Speech Therapists are practising independently, and 42.6% are practising in the
Gauteng province. The profession is comprised majorly of women (94.6%), and in terms of the population groups
(race), they are mainly classified as white (59.7%). In 2017, in best guess scenario, there is a supply–need gap of
around 2800 professionals. In the absence of any intervention to increase supply capacity, this shortfall will remain
same by the year 2030. By contrast, in aspirational scenario, i.e. supply is increased by 300%, the forecasted shortfall
for 2030 reduces to 2300 from 2800 professionals.
Conclusions: It is clear that without significant interventions, South Africa is likely to have a critical shortfall of
Audiologists and Speech Therapists in 2030. Policy-makers will have to carefully examine issues surrounding the
current framework regulating training of these and associated professionals, in order to respond adequately to
future requirements.
Description
CITATION: Pillay, M., et al. 2020. Sustainable workforce : South African Audiologists and Speech Therapists. Human Resources for Health, 18:47, doi:10.1186/s12960-020-00488-6.
The original publication is available at https://human-resources-health.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at https://human-resources-health.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
Audiologists -- Employment -- Supply and demand -- South Africa, Speech therapists -- Employment -- Supply and demand -- South Africa
Citation
Pillay, M., et al. 2020. Sustainable workforce : South African Audiologists and Speech Therapists. Human Resources for Health, 18:47, doi:10.1186/s12960-020-00488-6