Health Workforce

New data from the spatial data intelligence organisation Informed Decisions shows almost a quarter of the healthcare workforce is aged 55 or older. The dataset covers providers across aged care, disab...

South Australia is seeing a political split over expanding pharmacy prescribing. The Labour government backs the move as a way to improve access to care, while the Liberal opposition says they are not...

Queensland is revisiting the idea of adding physician assistants to the public health system. A leaked 2024 business case proposed lifting the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service PA workforce f...

South Australia held a pre election debate on health policy that brought together the Labor government and the Liberal opposition. The event was organised by AMA SA ahead of the March state election a...

The Australian government expanded the Low-cost Essentials Subsidy Scheme, cutting the price of 30 staple items by up to 50% to boost food security in remote Indigenous communities. The scheme began i...

Queensland faces a growing skin cancer care burden with a regional workforce gap. A Queensland team used supply, demand and needs based modelling to estimate the number of skin cancer clinicians and t...

The Australian College of Nursing Foundation has launched the Cynthea Wellings PhD Scholarship – Advancing nursing research and building Australia’s digital health capabilities. The top-up provides $9...

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners reports a record start to GP training in 2026. A total of 1772 doctors will begin general practice training this year. Of them, 161 will spend at...

A Melbourne general paediatrician uses the moment of Catherine O’Hara’s death to reflect on humour as a real tool in hospital life. Dr York Xiong Leong, who works with Eastern Health and teaches at Mo...

The Australian government and all states and territories agreed to back Thriving Kids with a new A$2 billion funding package. It will create a foundational supports program for children aged 0-8 with...

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has set up the Expert Committee – GP Workforce to steer Australia’s general practice workforce planning. Expressions of interest are open for the...

The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine has lodged its 2026 pre budget submission, urging the government to fund more rural generalist training places. It asks for 36 million dollars over...

RACS has publicly opposed a plan to form the Australia New Zealand College of Orthopaedic Surgeons, a move led by the Australian Orthopaedic Association. The proposed ANZCOS would be independent, whil...

The 2025 National Registrar Survey shows the RACGP training program reaching historic highs in Australia. About 1225 registrars responded to the confidential survey, conducted for the Department of He...

The Australian Pharmacy Council is inviting feedback on the Accreditation Standards for Pharmacy Programs (2020). The move fits a five year cycle that aligns with the new Pharmacist Capability Framewo...

Independent MPs Dr Helen Haines and David Pocock have launched a parliamentary petition to extend the Commonwealth prac payment scheme to medical and allied health students. The current scheme provide...

The Australian government announced a five-year GP training contract worth more than 1 billion dollars. Training will stay under the RACGP and ACRRM, with a split of 71 to RACGP and 29 to ACRRM, spe...

A systematic review in JAMA Network looked at melatonin use in young children across 19 studies. Melatonin prescribing has grown globally, with some studies showing up to a 500% rise. There is little...

The Federal Government has signed a five-year Australian General Practice Training grant agreement for 2026–30. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) will receive 751.3 million...

Private Healthcare Australia released a report based on a survey of more than 4,000 Australians, including about 2,300 who had recently been referred to a non-GP specialist. The findings show 30% have...