24 September 2026

Australia’s regional healthcare system is facing a continuing specialist workforce crisis, with a new report revealing a stark imbalance between where people live and where physicians are training and practising which is contributing to longer waits for care, delayed diagnoses and poorer health outcomes for many Australians.

The report Australia’s Regional Healthcare Crisis released today by The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) says that Australia's specialist shortage is being compounded by a training system that overwhelmingly produces city-based specialists.

The report warns that specialist workforce shortages are contributing to a growing health divide between city and country Australia. People living in remote and very remote communities are up to three times more likely to die from potentially avoidable causes and face significantly poorer health outcomes than those in metropolitan areas.

The report shows that despite more than seven million Australians living outside major cities, almost 90 per cent of physician trainees are still trained in metropolitan areas. The report warns that doctors who want to stay in regional communities are often forced to relocate to cities to complete training, significantly reducing the likelihood they will return, leaving regional communities without the workforce needed to meet future demand.

Physicians from across regional, rural and remote Australia are calling for governments across the country to take urgent action and work with medical colleges, hospitals and universities to turn the workforce crisis around. 

Associate Professor Annabel Martin, nephrologist, general and obstetric medicine physician based in Albury-Wodonga, says "The problem isn't that doctors don't want to work in the country, it's that the system won't let them stay. We ask trainees to leave the communities they want to serve, spend years in the city, and then hope they come back. Most don't.

"The fix is a training system built around where people actually live: end-to-end regional pathways where a physician can start, finish and build a career without having to pack up their life.

"I see what the alternative costs every day. My patients wait months for a specialist appointment and drive hours to get to it. This is the predictable result of how we've chosen to train doctors, and it's a choice we can make differently."

The report argues that while we need to get regional training pathways right – Federal, state and territory governments must also work together to improve retention and keep doctors from the country, in the country.

Dr James Dowler, a paediatrician based in Alice Springs, says “Physicians and trainees are making life decisions about their families, careers and futures, and governments need to support the whole picture. 

“We must address the everyday barriers that doctors and their families face when deciding to commit to rural Australia. Practical initiatives to provide wrap around support for relocation, accommodation, community orientation, schools and childcare can be the difference between a short-term placement and long-term career." 

College Dean and infectious diseases physician, Associate Professor Kudzai Kanhutu said the findings reflect a structural failure in how Australia trains, distributes and retains its medical workforce.

“The consequences are already being felt by patients across Australia. Longer waiting times, delayed diagnoses, greater travel burdens and poorer access to specialist care are becoming the norm in too many regional communities. The workforce shortage is not a future problem; it is happening now.

"The Government's own modelling warns Australia is heading towards a shortage of almost 7,000 specialists by 2033*.

“That modelling tells us the scale of the challenge. Our report shows why regional Australia will be hit hardest unless we fundamentally change how we train and retain specialists."

The RACP’s five-point plan outlines a practical roadmap to urgently kick-start the improvement of the regional, rural and remote physician workforce. The plan includes calls for:

• investment in end-to-end regional training pathways across the country to keep doctors from the country, in the country
• relocation + retention packages to better support physicians moving into regional areas
• targeted Medicare payment loadings for regional physicians.

Associate Professor Kanhutu said: "A person's postcode should not determine their access to specialist healthcare. Regional Australians deserve the same access to timely, high-quality physician care as people living in our major cities. The solutions exist; what is needed now is coordinated investment and action."

Read the report [PDF]

*Page 22, Whole of Medical Workforce Supply and Demand Compendium Report, June 2026