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Health Workforce Queensland (HWQ) has released its 2024-2025 Annual Report, capturing a year of continued momentum, strategic growth, and renewed focus on wellbeing across remote and rural health services. As Queensland’s Rural Workforce Agency, HWQ plays a vital role in supporting the health professionals who keep regional communities healthy, from Cape York to the Darling Downs and everywhere in between.
This year’s report shows meaningful progress, while also acknowledging the challenges that remain in attracting and keeping clinicians where they are needed most.
Workforce Growth and Changing Demographics
In 2024-2025, remote and rural regions saw an increase of 131 medical practitioners across MM 2–7 communities. Encouragingly, the data shows that recruitment initiatives are working, particularly in regions that have historically struggled to attract permanent staff.
A significant shift emerged this year: overseas-trained GPs now outnumber Australian-trained GPs in remote and rural areas for the first time since 2015. This reflects both the increasing importance of international medical graduates to rural Australia and the ongoing need to build stronger, long-term locally trained pipelines.
Yet retention remains a challenge. Nearly one in three practitioners reported they plan to stay less than three years in their current location. This reinforces the need for continued investment in support programs, training pathways, and workplace environments that encourage clinicians to build a future in rural Queensland.
Improving Practitioner Wellbeing
One of the most positive trends this year was the improvement in mental health and wellbeing among rural clinicians. Survey results from over 1,000 respondents suggested that doctors perceived their health and wellbeing as being generally better today than it was 2 years ago.
Even so, challenges persist. A desire for more flexible working arrangements, increased staffing, and reduced administrative load were common themes. Many practitioners indicated that system-level pressures, rather than clinical work itself, were the biggest contributors to fatigue.
HWQ’s work in exploring wellbeing is helping shape future programming aimed at improving sustainability and retention across the workforce.
Recruitment Successes and Locum Support
HWQ placed 89 health professionals into remote and rural positions this year, including 60 GPs and 29 allied health and nursing professionals. These placements directly address shortages in primary care, mental health, chronic disease management, and crisis support.
Locum services continue to play a critical role in preventing service closures. HWQ facilitated 292 locum GP days, with more than 70% delivered in MM 6–7 communities, the most remote parts of Queensland. This support ensures continuity of care and prevents practitioner burnout.
To aid relocation, over 58 incentive packages were provided, reducing financial barriers and helping families settle into new communities.
Upskilling and Education Through Scholarships
Education and development remain a cornerstone of HWQ’s contribution to long-term workforce sustainability. The Health Workforce Scholarship Program supported 689 scholarships and bursaries this year, offering opportunities for GPs, nurses, allied health practitioners, mental health workers, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals.
These scholarships help clinicians expand their scope of practice and deliver more services locally. Examples from this year include training in emergency ultrasound, postgraduate dental education, and advanced rehabilitation skills, each of which provides tangible benefits to patients in remote communities.
Notably, 26 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals received scholarship support, and nearly one-fifth of all scholarships were awarded to clinicians working in the most remote (MM 6–7) regions.
Focus on Maternal and Child Health
The Maternal & Child Health Uplift Program (MCHUP) continues to make an impact in the first 1,000 days of life, a critical period for future health outcomes. Through funding for training, workshops, and postgraduate study, the program is strengthening early childhood and perinatal services in underserved regions.
Feedback from participants underscores its value in improving culturally appropriate, community-led maternal and child health care.
Looking Ahead
The 2024-2025 Annual Report showcases HWQ’s ongoing commitment to building a capable, resilient, and community-connected remote and rural health workforce. While progress has been strong, the report highlights the need for continued focus on recruitment and retention, support for early-career clinicians, and sustained investment in programs improving wellbeing and equity.
Remote and rural communities remain at the heart of the organisation’s work, and this year’s achievements demonstrate promising steps toward a more secure healthcare future for Queensland.
Read the report in full or view previous reports via the buttons below.
