cohealth tackles rural healthcare workforce shortage with Attract Connect Stay

Two-day workshop aims to improve the attraction and retention of
healthcare professionals on Tasmania’s east coast 

As rural communities grapple with a global shortfall and high turnover of health professionals, a new program is set to take on the healthcare workforce shortage on Tasmania’s east coast this month. 

With funding support from the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, not-for-profit community health organisation cohealth, in partnership with health workforce attraction and retention specialist Dr Cath Cosgrave, will deliver the Attract Connect Stay Framework on Tasmania’s east coast, with the first of four workshops taking place at Freycinet Lodge on 17–18 March 2026.  

Developed through Dr Cosgrave’s PhD research, the Attract Connect Stay Framework is an evidence-based approach to revitalising regional and rural healthcare workforces.   

Implementation sites using the framework have achieved retention rates of 85-to-95 percent, and it now informs workforce policies for both the World Health Organisation and the Australian Government. 

The framework addresses five interconnected stages of the workforce journey:  

(1) Attract,  

(2) Recruit,  

(3) Settle & Connect in the workplace,  

(4) Settle & Connect in the community, and  

(5) Stay.  

This first workshop focuses on the critical first two stages: Ensuring attraction and recruitment are correct from the outset. It examines why traditional recruitment approaches often fail in rural settings, and it introduces person-centred strategies that are crucial in attracting and keeping health professionals. 

“We pour all our energy into recruitment, but if you’re not attracting the right people for the right reasons, you’re setting everyone up to fail — the professional, the practice, and the community,” Dr Cosgrave says. “This workshop is about getting that right from the start.” 

“cohealth is pleased to have the opportunity to introduce Dr Cosgrave’s game-changing framework to Tasmania,” says cohealth’s Tasmanian Operations Lead, Katie Pennington. “For rural and remote communities, Attract Connect Stay represents a much-needed new approach to attracting and retaining healthcare workers.” 

The workshop is open to practice managers, GPs, clinical and nursing directors, ACRRM registrar supervisors, allied health practice managers, aged care providers and anyone involved in recruiting health professionals across rural Tasmania. While priority is given to East Coast health services, all Tasmanian health and care organisations are welcome to attend. 

Places are limited to 25 participants, with registrations closing 13 March 2026. 

 Workshop Details: 

• What: Attract Connect Stay Framework Workshop — Pillar 1 Attract & Pillar 2 Recruit 

• When: Tuesday 17 March (9:30am–4:30pm) & Wednesday 18 March (8:30am–3:30pm) 

• Where: Freycinet Lodge Function Room, Freycinet National Park, Coles Bay Rd, Coles Bay TAS 

• Cost: Subsidised at $200–$240 (funded by ACRRM Rural and Remote Community Support Grant) 

• Registration: https://events.humanitix.com/attract-connect-stay-tasmania-workshop-1-attract-and-recruit 

• Enrolments close: 13 March 2026 

This program is supported by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) Rural and Remote Community Support Grant, and funded by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. 

About Dr Cath Cosgrave: 

Dr Cath Cosgrave is a respected social scientist, systems thinker, and researcher with more than 18 years of experience in rural health workforce development. She is known for uncovering the social and personal factors that hinder the attraction and retention of skilled workers in rural areas, and for creating the Attract Connect Stay Framework and the Community Connector Program in response.  

Her work across Australia, New Zealand, and Canada has achieved 85–to-95 percent retention rates at implementation sites. Her research has been cited more than 1,100 times and now informs workforce policy at the World Health Organization and Australian Government level. A Churchill Fellow (2018), she investigated community-driven approaches to workforce retention in Canada, which directly inspired the Community Connector Program model. 

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more information: Adam Bennett adam.bennett@cohealth.org.au or 0424 147 230 

About cohealth: cohealth is a not-for-profit community health organisation that provides low-cost and free local health and support services including medical, dental, allied health, mental health, aged care and counselling, and many specialist health services in Melbourne’s CBD, inner-north and inner-west, and the east coast of Tasmania (Bicheno and Triabunna).