Media release

Urgent collaboration needed to solve workforce crisis

The Queensland Audit Office’s latest health report tells us what we already know – that our workforce is struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing demand and cost of health services.

AMA Queensland Workforce Working Group

The Queensland Audit Office’s latest health report tells us what we already know – that our workforce is struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing demand and cost of health services.

Accessing primary care remains one of the greatest challenges, with national data ranking Queensland seventh out of the eight states and territories when it comes to minimising preventable hospitalisations.

“Workforce is central to the many challenges currently facing our health system, and with shortages continuing despite 6,259 new employees in 2024, it’s clear more must be done,” AMA Queensland President Dr Nick Yim said.

“It will remain AMA Queensland’s number one priority until all patients can access safe, timely and appropriate health care, and our doctors are no longer experiencing exorbitant rates of burnout.

“The health sector is currently experiencing the highest turnover since the peak of COVID-19 in 2020, with rural and remote regions suffering the most at a turnover rate of 9.5 per cent – five per cent higher than in metropolitan areas.

“To respond to this turnover and meet the increasing demand, it is projected that workforce will need to increase by 30.3 per cent by 2032. 

“This is a complex issue requiring multifaceted solutions, which is why AMA Queensland has established its new Workforce Working Group.

“Its purpose is to help guide government policies directed at attracting and retaining Queensland’s health workforce.

“We need collaborative teams, reform of funding models and improved work incentives and conditions to attract and retain doctors in areas of shortage.

“We also need more early-career doctors to help treat patients in our busy hospitals and train up to become our future medical leaders.

“But we must also change the ways we do and think about our work.

“Doctors and all health professionals need to innovate and embrace new technologies and methods while our health structures themselves must evolve.

“Barriers that prevent health workers from adapting their work must be reformed, including training pipelines, medico-legal structures and the MBS.

“We are confident our Workforce Working Group members can lean on their frontline experience to develop a range of profession-led solutions that will provoke a deeper discussion about our workforce challenges and options than we’ve been brave enough to have to date.

“This will build on the results of our Surgical Wait List Roundtable, which indicate that we have a shortage of many specialists, creating bottlenecks and delaying patient care.

“The audit office’s report also reiterates this, highlighting that despite more outpatients being treated than ever before, many were not within clinically recommended timeframes.”

Background

  • The working group consists of seven members plus invited guests who will meet monthly and at any additional times the Chair sees fit.
  • The group commenced on Thursday 16 January and began working to provide advice in the lead up to the Queensland Budget in June 2025.

Contact AMA Queensland Media

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