Okay, so maybe GPs were still ranked as the sixth-most-needed health practitioner. But falling out of the top five is still a win.
General practitioners are no longer in the top five most in-shortage health professionals in rural and remote Queensland, in what some say is a credit to GP training incentives.
This year’s Health Workforce Queensland needs assessment report put speech pathologists at the top of the shortage list, followed by psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers and registered counsellors.
“We suspect ongoing demand for speech pathology services is likely being driven by a combination of increasing community need, greater awareness of developmental and communication issues, and long wait times that make it harder for people to access timely care,” Health Workforce Queensland CEO Stewart Gordon said.
At the other end of the scale were chiropractors, pharmacists and optometrists.
Rather than an objective measure of workforce, the needs assessment asks healthcare workers to identify the workforce gaps they observe.
“Our latest workforce gap data shows a clear shift in where pressure is building, with allied health and mental health roles now dominating the top of the list,” the report reads.
“Psychology, speech pathology and social work have remained persistent gap areas over the past four years, but the 2026 results go further, with occupational therapy and registered counsellors also rising while GPs fall out of the top five.
“That points to a workforce challenge that is no longer just about traditional medical shortages, but increasingly about access to psychosocial support.”
The 338 participants who answered questions on recruitment and retention were most likely to point to financial constraints as drivers for the workforce gaps, followed by recruitment and retention challenges and training pipeline issues.
Townsville GP and RACGP rural chair Associate Professor Michael Clements told The Medical Republic that the report was a sound point-in-time assessment of where clinical needs are.
“I do think that the fact that GP concerns dropped to number six is reflective of the fact that we have seen a very significant surge in the number of doctors entering training,” he said.
“I do think I do think the pressure is off a lot of the rural communities in terms of recruitment. I think that we’ve had years now of significant increase in registrar interest.”
One-off incentive payments for GP registrars beginning training were rolled out on a national scale earlier this year, but Queensland had a pre-existing incentive payments program running for a few years prior.
Both 2025 and 2026 have also been extremely good training years for both the RACGP and ACRRM.
“It doesn’t surprise me that practices are saying, ‘listen, there’s probably a little bit less GP pressure than there used to be’,” Professor Clements said.
“The other thing that Queensland benefits from is that the Queensland government has been very clear in its willingness to step into primary care, to employ general practitioners and to employ doctors who work across both the general practice and the hospital.”
Related
In relation to the non-medical workforce gaps, survey participants reported that specific settings like the NDIS are adding complexity and limiting provider capacity.
Professor Clements specifically mentioned an NDIS rule change from mid-2025, which put a new cap on what NDIS providers could claim for time spent travelling.
“The business model [of some NDIS providers] was really about taking advantage of the generosity that was built into NDIS, and when NDIS rules changed to say that you can only claim half the travel rate … [some] gave up and just stopped,” he said.
“We’ve certainly seen a reduction in the number of practitioners going to support those [remote] areas.
“On the one hand, we’ve got more awareness of NDIS. I think the community continues to become more aware of early intervention and the important role of speech pathology, occupational therapy, allied health, and early intervention.
“I think part of the demand increase that we’re seeing in allied health is patient-driven demand because they know it’s an option, whereas in the past they did not.
“The interplay with the NDIS is interesting, and I don’t think we’re going to see the dust settle yet.”
