KEEP IN TOUCH
(07) 3105 7800
Turrbal and Jagera Country
Level 4, 348 Edward Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
The Health Workforce Scholarship Program (HWSP) continues to play a pivotal role in enhancing healthcare services across remote and rural Queensland. Administered by Health Workforce Queensland (HWQ) and funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, the program provides scholarships and bursaries of up to $10,000 to support health professionals in upskilling and expanding their clinical practice.
In the 2024–2025 period, a total of 689 scholarships and bursaries were awarded to eligible professionals across a broad spectrum of health disciplines. These included general practitioners, nurses, allied health professionals, dentists, mental health workers, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners. 16% of scholarships and bursaries were provided to health professionals providing services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and funding was provided to 26 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health professionals. The program supports both clinical training and formal postgraduate education, responding to workforce needs and service gaps in non-metropolitan areas.
Scholarships were awarded across all levels of the Modified Monash Model (MMM), with the highest number allocated to practitioners working in MM3 to MM5 regions, which include large to small rural towns. Importantly, over 18% of scholarships went to those working in remote and very remote communities (MM6–MM7), reinforcing HWSP’s commitment to addressing service access and equity in geographically isolated areas.
We reached out to some HWSP recipients to get their insights on exactly how valuable the funding support is for them and their communities.
Sophie Plowman, a medical practitioner with the RFDS in an MM6-7 region, was grateful for the financial support and happy to share her experience. “Ultrasound is a growing skill set that requires regular upskilling to remain at an appropriate level. It is unfortunately also an expensive course. Being a recipient of the HWSP makes me feel like a valued part of the rural Queensland team and gave me access to a course I would have had to defer for another year without the funding support. I now feel comfortable in the remote communities I service to use ultrasound. This may be as simple as using it to take bloods from a complex patient or visualise the foetal heartbeat in pregnancy, to doing a FAST scan on a trauma patient. This all adds to the service I can provide locally, and in some cases means the difference between a long drive or expensive flight out. Long term it adds to the continuity of care I can provide my remote communities.”
Brandon Dines, an occupational therapist with Beach 2 Bush Healthcare, received HWSP funding to support upskilling in the specialty area of hand and upper limb rehabilitation. “The training was more expensive than other courses as this is deemed a higher-level of training and coursework. Additionally, training was held external to my region making access more challenging. HWSP was able to support financially and with these skills, I am able to offer more services in this realm and equip the clinic I work at to be better resourced.”
Mareeba-based dentist Alex Park has undertaken advanced postgraduate training in surgical and prosthodontic dentistry, training that would have been financially and logistically out of reach without the scholarship. The funding enabled Alex to travel regularly to Sydney for intensive study blocks while continuing to run his rural practice. As a result, he has significantly expanded the range of dental services available locally, reducing the need for patients to travel for complex procedures and improving access to timely, affordable care. Alex shares how HWSP support has allowed him to upskill while continuing to deliver essential oral health services in rural Far North Queensland in the full article linked in the button below.
This investment in HWSP not only supports individual career development but also contributes to improved health outcomes through increased local capacity, greater workforce retention, and broader scopes of practice. Moving forward, HWQ remains focused on aligning scholarship support with the evolving needs of Queensland’s remote and rural health system.
