Workforce Insights: August 2026
Building a stronger physician workforce and improving access to care
Workforce pressures are shaping the day-to-day experiences of physicians and paediatricians across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. From shortages in regional and rural areas to training capacity, healthcare reform and access to specialist care, these challenges affect where you work, how you train and the care you can provide.
Through our policy and advocacy work, we’re making sure your expertise and experiences are heard. This edition highlights how the College is working with governments, regulators and policymakers to address the workforce and healthcare issues that matter to you and your patients.
Online event: Launching our workforce report, Australia's Regional Healthcare Crisis
Featuring National Rural Health Commissioner, Professor Jenny May AM
Access to specialist care in regional, rural and remote communities remains one of the most pressing healthcare challenges facing Australia. Physician shortages, maldistribution of the workforce and barriers to training and retention continue to affect both patients and those working outside metropolitan centres.
To support meaningful reform, you're invited to the online launch of our new report, Australia's Regional Healthcare Crisis: A snapshot analysis of the physician workforce and five-point plan to improve access to specialist care in regional, rural and remote Australia.
Held on Wednesday, 23 September from 5.30pm to 7pm AEST, this online event features National Rural Health Commissioner, Professor Jenny May AM. You'll also hear from RACP members working in regional, rural and remote communities and can join the discussion through an interactive Q&A discussion.
Register now
Your specialty expertise helps shape stronger advocacy. Representatives from adult medicine specialty societies recently came together for the inaugural Adult Medicine Specialty Society Policy and Advocacy Network meeting, hosted by the Policy & Advocacy team.
The new network strengthens collaboration between the College and specialty societies, helping ensure advocacy priorities reflect the experiences, challenges and needs of physicians and trainees across different specialties and practice settings.
In a recent submission to the Medical Council of New Zealand, we provided feedback [PDF] on proposed professional standards for Physician Associates, calling for stronger standards, clear governance and a continued focus on patient safety.
We raised concerns about the potentially misleading use of the title ‘Physician Associate’ and emphasised the importance of ensuring patients clearly understand the role, qualifications and scope of practice of those providing their care.
The submission [PDF] recommends stronger requirements around cultural safety, scope of practice, supervision, accountability, communication and safe transfer of care.
Preparing for the election
We are actively engaging with political parties through our Let Us Care election advocacy work, with a strong focus on workforce challenges facing the Aotearoa New Zealand healthcare system. Meetings have been held with Labour, the Opportunity Party, Te Pāti Māori and NZ First. Further engagement is planned with the Nationals and Greens, as health policies are developed and refined.
A member town hall is also planned ahead of the election, giving you an opportunity to hear more about the issues and priorities shaping healthcare. Aotearoa New Zealand members will be sent an invitation soon.
Your clinical experience is being heard where it matters – in parliamentary inquiries and public hearings shaping national policy.
Putting clinical expertise at the heart of NDIS reform
Good NDIS reform needs clinical expertise. We recently gave evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into proposed NDIS reforms. Representatives from the Paediatrics and Child Health Division and Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine highlighted the importance of clinically informed decisions and recognising the complexity of individual needs, particularly for children and young people with complex disability.
We’re also calling for strong safeguards, close monitoring and ongoing evaluation to make sure reforms deliver better outcomes for people with disability, their families and the clinicians who support them.
Your clinical expertise is helping shape how Australia responds to young people in the justice system. Through the Inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system, RACP representatives from the Paediatrics and Child Health Division and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee advocated for a health-first approach. They emphasised the importance of it being grounded in Indigenous leadership, co-design and meaningful clinical input into service and system reform.
Bringing physician perspectives directly to decision-makers is essential. You’re helping ensure reforms are evidence-informed, focused on health outcomes and responsive to the needs of young people, particularly those experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage.
Progressing your priorities
We engage directly with governments, departments and agencies on the issues that matter most to you.
Supporting physicians through changes to ADHD care
Your expertise is helping shape how ADHD care evolves. Physicians have opportunities to contribute to reforms across jurisdictions, helping ensure changes support patient safety, appropriate governance, workforce capability and access to specialist expertise.
This includes physician input into Victoria’s Expert Advisory Panel, shared-care framework and prescribing reforms, and discussions with the ACT Health Minister on proposed changes to ADHD care and implementation.
Your voice is stronger when medical colleges work together. Across Australia, we are collaborating with other colleges to advocate for the issues that matter to physicians, including workforce sustainability, training capacity, clinician wellbeing and equitable access to specialist care.
In South Australia, a recent multi-College election statement [PDF] called for stronger workforce planning, improved access to specialist care and greater support for doctors across the health system.
This work is backed by our ongoing engagement with SA health leaders – Health and Wellbeing Minister, Blair Boyer and Shadow Health Minister, Jack Batty on workforce sustainability, training capacity and long-term workforce planning.
Making sure physicians’ priorities are heard
Your expertise is helping tackle the practical issues that affect your work and your patients. Recent advocacy has focused on specialist access, workforce planning, training capacity, paediatric Medicare items, registration for New Fellows, prescribing and child health.
We are directly engaging with ministers, health departments, government agencies and national bodies across Australia including Dr Mike Freelander MP, the National Children's Commissioner and the Thriving Kids Taskforce. These discussions are helping raise the workforce pressures, training needs and specialist access challenges you experience, while identifying opportunities to improve healthcare delivery.
RACP State and Territory Committees are continuing to put physicians’ priorities directly in front of decision-makers. This includes engaging the offices of NSW Health Minister, Ryan Park MP and Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, the Queensland Health Minister, Tim Nicholls MP, Northern Territory Shadow Health Minister, Chansey Paech MP, and Western Australia's new Chief Medical Officer and senior health representatives.
In Tasmania, RACP representatives contributed to discussions on implementing Thriving Kids. In Queensland, the Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine advocated alongside the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine and Palliative Care Queensland, for stronger recognition of palliative medicine physicians in future end-of-life care policy and planning.
Supporting healthier communities through prevention
Your expertise is helping shape stronger prevention and public health systems. In South Australia [PDF] and Western Australia, physicians have advocated for greater investment in prevention, sustainable public health and physician workforces, better workforce planning and more equitable access to care, particularly in regional, rural and remote communities.
We are also calling for long-term funding, measurable targets and accountability so prevention commitments translate into meaningful health outcomes for patients and communities.
Here’s how your clinical expertise has been helping shape healthcare policy. In recent months, RACP members have contributed to consultations and policy discussions on issues affecting clinical practice, patient safety, workforce sustainability and access to care.
Together, we’re making sure the physician perspective is heard by the governments, regulators and decision-makers shaping healthcare.
- Opposing proposed models for pharmacist prescribing of scheduled medicines [PDF] due to concerns about patient safety, clinical governance and continuity of care.
- Supporting practical approaches to Informed Financial Consent [PDF], with a focus on education, guidance and tools that assist both physicians and patients in making informed decisions about care.
- Supporting legislative reforms to improve management of medicine shortages [PDF], including earlier reporting requirements and strengthened regulatory oversight.
- Providing clinical advice on online prescribing and My Health Record reforms [PDF], focusing on quality, interoperability and safe implementation.
- Supporting aspects of private health sector reform [PDF] aimed at improving patient access and strengthening workforce sustainability across the healthcare system.
- Advocating for a stronger public health approach to gambling reform [PDF]. This includes stricter advertising restrictions and measures to reduce gambling-related harm, which continues to have significant impacts on the health and wellbeing of patients, families and communities.
Find out more about member consultations where you can share your expertise.
Safe clinical systems, effective governance and quality improvement processes are critical not only for patient safety but also for workforce sustainability and clinician wellbeing. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care is consulting on the third edition of the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. Greater emphasis is placed on clinical governance, person-centred care and safe systems of care.
You can help shape the next edition of the NSQHS Standards by sharing your clinical experience and perspectives on what is needed to support safe, high-quality care. The consultation is open until Friday, 25 September 2026.
Contribute to the consultation
Our advocacy is strongest when it's informed by your expertise. Keep an eye out for consultation opportunities for submissions and engagement activities where your experience can help shape the future of physician training, workforce policy and patient care. Contact the Policy & Advocacy team if you would like to be involved.
Hurry, applications for the 2027 RACP Trainee Research Awards close on Monday, 31 August at 11.59pm AEST. Eligible trainees and New Fellows across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand can showcase their research, gain recognition and present at their local event.
The best presenters from each Australian jurisdiction and Aotearoa New Zealand will be invited to present at the 2027 RACP Trainee Research Awards Symposium in Sydney. Travel, accommodation and an official certificate provided.
Find out more
Future-proof your medical career in just two days
Career Triage: From Registrar to Consultant is a dedicated conference empowering trainees, Overseas Trained Physicians and early-career Fellows through education and valuable networking opportunities. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear directly from experts who have successfully navigated the transition to consultancy and connect with your community of peers.
Held on Saturday, 7 and Sunday, 8 November in Hobart, this conference is an honest examination of where early career physicians stand, what the profession demands, and how to build both excellence and sustainability into practice.
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As healthcare workers who dedicate our lives to helping others, it’s important to take the time to care for ourselves. We would like to remind everyone that it's okay to not be okay. If you need someone to talk to, you can reach out to the RACP Support Program. It's a free, 24/7 and completely confidential support service that is delivered externally through Converge International.
Whether you have something worrying on your mind, are finding getting out of bed to be a struggle, or just feel like talking to someone for helpful, judgement-free advice, this free support service may be just what you need.
Find out more