Albury Wodonga Health Children and Women's Services director Julie Wright, and Jan Lang, co-ordinator of a project that spurred the symposium, led discussion with about 40 health professionals in Beechworth.

Ensuring there are not silos between midwifery and obstetrics, speeding up the HR process to ensure good candidates are not lost during recruitment, the development of a local pregnancy app and monthly information sessions for the public were all discussed.

The Rural and Regional Maternity and Newborn Project has been running for 15 months and Ms Lang said an action plan would be developed from the symposium.

"We've already developed resources like a pregnancy map in collaboration with Gateway Health, and we hope to create an operational framework for the whole catchment area to create continuity of care for women," she said.

"Today is part of the dialogue that needs to happen to create action."

Indi MP Helen Haines gave a picture of expected demands on the workforce to begin the day, and a researcher from La Trobe University spoke about organisational culture.

The comment was made that having a complex pregnancy regionally can be an expensive exercise, and that uncapping places in the midwife care program - which would require more funding - would be beneficial.

Ms Wright said there needed to be more promotion of the sector to attract young people, and keep graduates in the job.

"Often they don't know the options - so the only way into something different for them is to go out the door, as opposed to what are the career pathways by staying - is it clinical leadership, management safety and quality independent midwifery, is it community practise?," she said.

"I don't know if we sell that well enough and I think making sure they know pathways is really important."

Managing director of Total HRM Linda Griffiths-Brown spoke about the need to capture school students when they're thinking about their career options.

"You're talking about not even having the midwives to give out appointments - how do you attract new employees?," she said.

"What is being done to engage at the school level? Who is going to talk to these kids about the opportunity to go be a midwife?

"It comes down to relationships - you need to nurture that, if you leave the door open for them, they will cycle back to you.

"It might take 15 years but when they're ready to make the choice, they choose you."

Ms Griffiths-Brown said for the first time there were five generations in the workforce at the same time, and it was important to understand the differences between their values and practices, but also focus to on what is common between generations - such as trust.

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"When your Generation Zs come into the workforce, pair them up with someone from a different generation, but for the reverse mentoring - so you know how they see the world," she said.

"The way they see it is different - it's not wrong, it's just different."

Participants were from Albury Wodonga Health, Northeast Health Wangaratta, Benalla Health, Mansfield District Hospital, Ambulance Victoria, Yarrawonga Health, Alpine Health, Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service and Mungabareena Aboriginal Corporation.