Health staffing has increased 40% since 2015 but the next decade holds more challenges than the last. We will need upwards of 40,000 new staff as health demands grow over the next ten years.
The Health Workforce Strategy for Queensland to 2032 acknowledges the critical importance of building a sustainable and well-supported workforce and embodies our commitment to ensuring access to high-quality healthcare for all Queenslanders.
Read the strategy
Health Workforce Strategy for Queensland to 2032 [PDF 3.5 MB]
The Health Workforce Strategy for Queensland to 2032
Queensland’s health workforce faces complex challenges and pressures, such as increasing demand for services due to the growing and ageing population and the increasing burden of chronic illness and psychological stress. There are evolving skill requirements to match changes in service demand. As health care focuses on chronic disease treatments, genomics, precision medicine, artificial intelligence and remote monitoring; education and training programs as well as our health workforce, need to keep up to date. Advances in medical and communication technology, along with the changing disease profile, requires the health system to keep pace through new and emerging models of care. Our health consumers want better, faster, and more tailored healthcare services, also adding pressures on the health workforce.
The Health Workforce Strategy for Queensland to 2032 identifies three focus areas, underpinned by key strategies, which have been shaped by data, research and valuable input from almost 800 stakeholders across more than 160 organisations.
Focus areas
Support and retain the current workforce
In order to deliver world-class healthcare, particularly in regional, rural and remote communities, we must achieve high rates of staff retention. High employee turnover puts pressure on the remainder of our workforce to meet our state’s healthcare demands, and is costly to our Hospital and Health Services.
Build and attract new pipelines of talent
We know that the best way to build a health workforce pipeline which will sustain our public health system over the coming decade is to train and recruit staff right here in Queensland. Through locally based education, training and recruitment, as well as nationally competitive incentives, we will be able to build our health workforce in Queensland.
Adapt and innovate new ways to deliver
Healthcare providers are already working to integrate digital technologies to streamline workflows and improve consumer outcomes. With increasing demand for healthcare, limited resources and workforce challenges, it is essential that we look for ways to increase efficiencies and deliver better outcomes.
What has informed the strategy
In the course of consulting on the Health Workforce Strategy for Queensland to 2032, we heard from clinical and non-clinical staff, as well as employee groups, industry, educational institutions, and trade unions. As part of the consultation from November 2023 to January 2024, we held 14 online staff feedback sessions, received 790 emails and held 66 stakeholder meetings. You can find the results in the Consultation Summary Report [PDF 1159 kB] with the key themes and recommendations informing the development of this strategy.
Investment Plan
The Investment Plan sets out the Queensland Government’s funding commitment to support the Health Workforce Strategy for Queensland to 2032. It outlines how new investment will be used to fund new initiatives, as well as existing initiatives already underway in Queensland.
Implementation and monitoring
Implementation is to be guided by workforce action plans, organisationally and discipline based. Queensland Health will work closely with key stakeholders to progress a system-level approach to achieve a dynamic and responsive health system where our workforce is valued and empowered to provide world-class healthcare to all Queenslanders.
Monitoring and evaluation of progress in relation to the health workforce strategy and action plans is important to measure our success.
Queensland Health commits to collaborate with stakeholders to:
- Establish key performance indicators to measure the effectiveness in implementing the health workforce strategy
- Evaluate the impact of the strategies, on a two-yearly basis, during the life of the health workforce strategy.
Get in touch
For more information, email
ws_projectteam@health.qld.gov.au
Last updated: 12 June 2024