Rural and remote health workforce capacity: the contribution made by programs administerd by the Department of Health and Ageing

Over the last decade, Australia has experienced workforce shortages in a number of health professions, particularly in rural and remote regions. The ongoing shortage of doctors and nurses in these areas of the country has many characteristics in common with difficult social policy issues – it is multi-causal with many interdependencies, has no clear or definitive solution, is not the responsibility of any one jurisdiction and, ultimately, requires health professionals to move to, or work for a longer period in, a rural and remote area. This report finds that the Department of Health and Ageing has not yet developed a cohesive approach to inform its strategies to deal with these shortages and to report on its contribution to health workforce outcomes in rural and remote areas of Australia