Medical Practitioner Workforce Plan for Queensland
Ensuring we have a highly skilled medical practitioner workforce in the right numbers and in the right places to meet the future health needs of the Queensland community continues to be a key priority of the Department of Health.
Publicly released in 2017, the Medical Practitioner Workforce Plan for Queensland (MPWP4Q) (PDF 6276 kB) is a 10-year plan with key initiatives and deliverables aimed at building, strengthening and growing Queensland’s medical practitioner workforce to reflect the health needs of local communities and the changing demographics of Queensland’s population.
Background
The MPWP4Q was developed to provide a clear vision and strong framework for securing Queensland’s medical practitioner workforce at the time and into the future.
Since the release of the MPWP4Q, funding of approximately $5 million per annum has been committed to a broad range of initiatives designed to address medical workforce challenges primarily associated with the maldistribution of the workforce, both geographically and in terms of specialties in undersupply.
The initial iteration of the MPWP4Q identified the following high level strategic priorities and initiatives for immediate action:
- Emergent priority areas
- Shared data collection and analysis
- Strengthening the primary care medical workforce
- Support for the next generation
- Securing a medical workforce to deliver services to regional and rural communities
- Enabling sustainability
- Fostering the health and wellbeing of the medical workforce (later included as a key priority).
Medical workforce planning and development is currently an area of significant national and state reform. To ensure that the MPWP4Q is responsive to the future needs of the medical workforce, the Department of Health is committed to ensuring the plan remains relevant, appropriate, and fit for purpose.
Please refer to the high level summary of achievements document which provides an overview of the current round of initiatives funded under the MPWP4Q and a summary of outcomes achieved through previous initiatives in addressing medical workforce challenges across Queensland.
National Medical Workforce Strategy 2021-2031
In consultation with key stakeholders, including Queensland Health, the National Medical Workforce Strategy (2021-2031) has been developed by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and ageing to guide long-term medical workforce planning across Australia.
The 10-year strategy identifies achievable, practical actions to build a sustainable, highly trained medical workforce and will improve access to health care by supporting the right people to have the right skills, where they are needed most.
Contact
For further information in relation to the MPWP4Q, please contact the Medical Advisory and Prevocational Accreditation Unit via email at MAPAU-MWP@health.qld.gov.au.