KEEP IN TOUCH
(07) 3105 7800
Turrbal and Jagera Country
Level 4, 348 Edward Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
CEO's Report
2024-2025 marks the 26th financial year of the agency’s support of Queensland's remote and rural health workforce as we continue to work to attract, recruit, and retain primary health care workers in remote, rural, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
During the year we reviewed and revised our 2024-2028 strategic plan to fine tune our strategies to improve the health outcomes for remote and rural Queenslanders through equitable and effective health workforce solutions.
We continue to work hard and collaboratively to increase the impact of our services and program supports to our health workforce in remote, rural, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This report highlights the activities and strategies that we have used to directly and indirectly support remote and rural communities and their health workforce.
We are pleased to report that we have directly supported 792 health professionals in ACCHSs, Allied Health services, General Practice, and Primary Health Care settings.
We continue to provide a range of recruitment advisory services to health professionals and practices/employers including access to provider numbers, relocation grants and specific workforce programs to further increase access to high quality health professionals.
It is especially pleasing to report that we exceeded our target for the year by directly recruiting 60 General Practitioners, and 29 Allied Health Professionals and Nurses/Midwives.
The following programs, events, financial incentives, scholarships or bursaries have enhanced access to available services and positively impacted workforce retention in remote and rural primary health care. Key successes include:
43 health professional students participating in our GROW Rural workforce solution which aims to lead to a job in a town they know.
689 Scholarships and Bursaries for Aboriginal Health Workers/Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals, GPs, Nurses, Midwives to undertake valuable education and short courses.
80 GPs attending one of our accredited CPD Workshops ensuring they maintain their Rural Emergency Medicine, Trauma, Emergency Mental Health and Emergency Paediatrics skills.
Over 250 delegates and 53 students attending the 2025 RDAQ Conference which was the last one where Health Workforce Queensland (HWQ) was a conference partner and event manager.
All these activities contribute to maintaining and growing our skilled rural workforce.
We continually work on increasing the impact of our workforce solutions and improving our advocacy by using the best available evidence of health workforce need, distribution and trends. The Health Workforce Stakeholder Group (HWSG) is a key group that sharpens the focus of each agency’s actions and advocacy on policy and program responses.
The 2024 HWSG meeting explored developing effective and sustainable multidisciplinary teams in remote and rural primary health care. The 2023 Health Workforce Needs Assessment (HWNA) survey results informed the meeting with supportive funding models and incentives being identified as the most critical enablers for team-based primary care. The ‘Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review’ and reform of primary care arrangements recommended in the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report provided a platform for the theme of the meeting.
The in-depth discussions at the meeting highlighted the following:
The remote and rural primary care workforce in Queensland is ready to implement effective and sustainable multi-disciplinary team-based care, they need supportive settings to do so. Remote and rural Queensland presents an ideal opportunity to develop and strengthen innovative and flexible place-based approaches based on better coordinated and funded workforce models of team-based care.
Among the enablers vital to effective team-based care, supportive policy settings and funding arrangements are central.
Greater access to primary care workforce is needed to effectively implement sustainable multi-disciplinary team-based care in remote and rural Queensland.
We appreciate the strong connections we have with our stakeholders and partners. It has been another year of building partnerships and joining strategies with other agencies to improve access to high quality health workforce and service improvements.
We are actively involved throughout the state, participating in many alliances and working groups to support the health workforce and specific communities to improve healthcare in the areas that need it most.
I would like to express my appreciation to all the stakeholders who support the remote and rural health workforce and communities. Your work in supporting the health and wellbeing of these communities is nothing short of extraordinary. I am deeply grateful for your ongoing commitment, resilience and unwavering focus that continue to make lasting differences to the lives of individuals and families across remote and rural communities.
I extend my gratitude and thanks to my Rural Workforce Agency (RWA) colleagues for serving as a national reference point, engaging with stakeholders and contributing to discussions nationwide to assist with shaping national policies and practices through the Rural Workforce Agency Network (RWAN).
We look forward to collaborating with our key funder, the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, to deliver vital initiatives to support remote and rural primary health care and acknowledge their ongoing support.
I sincerely thank and extend my gratitude to the HWQ Directors for their wise counsel and steadfast dedication over the past year. I am fortunate to be supported by an outstanding leadership and management team, and dedicated staff members who are committed to strengthening the remote and rural health workforce.
As I retire after 24 years as CEO, I am inspired by the remote and rural workforce, our future workforce and active stakeholders as well as the amazing HWQ team for your steadfast dedication to facing the challenges of remote and rural primary care. I encourage you all to keep pushing forward with the same energy and heart, knowing that your efforts will continue to improve the lives of the people you serve.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your partnership, your passion, and your dedication. It has been an honor to work alongside you, and I wish you every success as you continue this vital work for many years to come.
Chris Mitchell
CEO, Health Workforce Queensland
