Leaders' Debate misses focus on workforce crisis

The first leaders’ debate between Queensland’s two prospective Premiers was missing one vital element – how either party plans to fix the state’s healthcare workforce crisis.

“Both candidates said health was a critical priority, but neither of them talked about the number one issue - how do we recruit, train and retain our healthcare workforce,” AMA Queensland President Dr Nick Yim said.

“We need more doctors, nurses and allied health practitioners, and that requires a workforce strategy that involves more medical students, more training places for graduates and incentives to keep doctors in regional Queensland.

“Both leaders gave well-deserved praise to our healthcare workers who go above and beyond every day to keep our health system functioning, and both recognised the importance of primary care in keeping people well and out of hospital.

“However, neither of them addressed the looming global shortage of 10 million healthcare workers by 2030 and how they plan to make Queensland the most attractive destination for this scarce workforce.

“We welcome the LNP’s commitment to provide real-time data on ambulance ramping, emergency department performance, and wait lists for elective surgery and outpatient appointments within 100 days should they win government.

“We recognise the Labor government has been providing more of this information publicly and we thank the Minister for that.

“This data must be available so we can plan for future bottlenecks and head off workforce shortages.

“AMA Queensland has given all parties recommendations for actions that can make a real difference to health outcomes for all Queenslanders through our Surgical Wait List Roundtable Action Plan and our Election Priorities 2024.

“We are pleased the LNP has committed to an exemption for general practice from payroll tax if they form government and are disappointed the Premier did not acknowledge the uncertainty this tax is posing for private practice once the amnesty ends in June 2025.

“We continue to encourage Labor to match the LNP commitment and urge both sides to extend the exemption to non-GP private specialists.

“We were very disappointed by the Premier’s claim that opening nurse-led walk-in clinics and allowing pharmacists to prescribe medications without oversight is giving Queenslanders better access to primary care.

“This is not primary care. Primary care is our highly-trained doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other allied healthcare practitioners working collaboratively in a proven, holistic and team-based model within their scope of practice and training."