Short term fixes, long-term gaps: rural health workforce policy in Queensland and Australia
Conference Contribution ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
Background: The federal government’s 2018 Stronger Rural Health Strategy (SRHS) aimed to strengthen the rural and remote health workforce (HWF) under the broad themes of ‘teach’, ‘train’, ‘recruit’ and ‘retain’. Despite this national commitment, long-standing challenges in HWF availability, recruitment and retention remain across Australia’s rural and remote regions. Aims: This study examined the status and characteristics of rural and remote HWF policy at both federal and state (Queensland) level, comparing relative emphasis on the strategic domains of HWF supply, distribution and performance. Methodology: Rural HWF policy documents were identified and extracted from websites of the federal Department of Health and Aged Care, Queensland Health and other relevant bodies. Documents were coded for demographic data, policy type, health profession and service focus, and overarching strategic focus. Results: At total of 108 documents (71 federal; 37 state) were identified. Federal policy is dominated by short-term (3-5 year) mixed instruments—grants, programs, and sub-programs—including initiatives under the SRHS. A large proportion focuses on supply of medical doctors and nursing professionals. Queensland policy places greater emphasis on HWF retention, via incentives contained in employment policies such as financial allowances, leave, development opportunities and workload management. Neither federal or state policy substantively address well-documented drivers of retention linked to broader social, cultural and work environment factors. HWF policy in both state and federal jurisdictions tended to frame performance narrowly, privileging individual or professional, over system-level outcomes. Conclusion: Despite the presence of SHRS, findings highlight the complexity and underlying fragmentation of Australia’s rural HWF policy. The co-existence of multiple federally driven programs and grants alongside state-level employment policy makes it difficult to track the full scope and impact of HWF policy in rural and remote regions. Greater cross-jurisdictional coordination with clearer alignment of individual policies to system-wide (versus health professional) performance goals is needed.
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AYRI 2025: 12th Biennial Are You Remotely Interested? Conference
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1
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Mount Isa, QLD, Australia
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James Cook University
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Mt Isa, QLD, Australia
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