Queensland government yet to deliver health workforce plan, doctors warn of staff shortages

Tuesday marked one year since the release of the Queensland Health Workforce Gap Analysis Report, which found the state needed 46,000 healthcare workers by 2032. Health Minister Tim Nicholls said in February a comprehensive workforce action plan would be released this year, but no plan has yet been made public.

Australian Medical Association Queensland president Erica Gannon said it was disappointing to reach the anniversary without a plan. “The workforce gap analysis was a positive first step in developing a sorely needed, system-wide workforce plan,” she said. “Sadly, Queenslanders have yet to see that plan.”

Gannon said the report showed a shortfall of up to 6000 doctors by 2032 and highlighted the loss of early and mid-career clinicians. Without a plan to recruit and retain doctors, she said, remote and regional areas would suffer. “We know demand for health services is only going to increase, given our growing and ageing population,” she said.

Former AMAQ president Dr Nick Yim said the government was investing billions into hospitals and health infrastructure but risked understaffing them. “These projects will not live up to their potential if we don’t have enough staff to actually deliver healthcare to Queenslanders,” he said.

The gap analysis found 20 per cent of the state’s registered health workforce was at or approaching retirement age, including 18 per cent of nurses. Figures released in September showed more than 2400 nurses left hospitals in 2024-25, the worst nursing exodus in four years.

Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union assistant secretary Fridae King said the system needed a plan to curb the loss of highly experienced staff. “The problem lies beyond natural attrition. Our members are leaving because they can no longer absorb unsafe staffing, unmanageable workloads, crisis levels of workplace violence, and feeling unsupported by management when they do report,” she said. King added that the union continues to seek information about the workforce strategy and how the LNP intends to meet its election promise to recruit 18,781 full-time equivalent nurses and midwives by 2032.

Nicholls distanced himself from any firm deadline on Tuesday, pointing to data showing Queensland Health had grown its workforce by more than 10,000 staff in the past two years. He dismissed suggestions a draft plan had been rejected by cabinet. “I’m not going to go into all the details of cabinet, and I’m not going to speculate on the false rumours that [Opposition Leader] Steven Miles is spreading around the place,” he said. “We’re working our way on that plan. As I say, we want to make sure that we get it right, [and] we want to make sure that we understand what the pressures are in the system. When we’ve concluded all of that investigation, we’ll have a proper workforce plan that people can have faith in.”

Miles said recent reports outlining pressure on frontline workers and public hospitals underscored the need to firm up workforce plans. “This government promised Queensland Health workers a workforce plan, and that’s what they should deliver,” he said. “That was the commitment they made a year ago, and they should stop making excuses. There’s no reason why it should have taken this long, and no reason why it shouldn’t be released.”