Topp, Stephanie, Nguyen, Thu, and Elliott, Lana M. (2025) Health workforce policy in Queensland: mapping the state government landscape. Australian Health Review, 49 (6). pp. 1-9.

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Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to systematically map the scope, focus, and distribution of Queensland’s health workforce (HWF) policies and examine their alignment with strategic HWF objectives. Methods

A descriptive policy review was conducted using documents sourced from the Queensland Health and Health Workforce Queensland websites between January and May 2025. Documents were coded by policy type (system-level, individual-level, employment), document type, strategic domain (supply, distribution, performance), health profession, policy author, and publication year. Results

A total of 275 policy documents were identified. Among 11 major policy groupings, most policies related to ‘general HWF’ and ‘medical doctors and specialists’ with minimal policy attention to pharmacists, physician assistants, paramedics, and aged care workers. Employment-focused policies accounted for 52% of all documents, compared with 38% focused on individual career development and only 10% on system-level strategic objectives. Most documents addressed workforce performance (65%), with fewer addressing supply (39%) or distribution (11%). Employment policy documents were largely authored by human resources and industrial relations bodies, reflecting the prominence of these actors in the HWF policy landscape. Conclusions

Despite a high volume of HWF policy in Queensland, the policy architecture is fragmented. Profession-specific siloes, a strong emphasis on employment and industrial policy, and uneven focus across supply, distribution and performance domains suggest coordination and alignment challenges when it comes to addressing broader workforce goals. Further work is needed to understand whether and how these patterns may constrain the development of integrated, equitable workforce strategies capable of addressing persistent system-wide planning issues such as skills mix, retention and rural maldistribution.

Item ID:	89752
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1449-8944
Copyright Information:	© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
Date Deposited:	22 Dec 2025 23:09
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420699 Public health not elsewhere classified @ 30% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4407 Policy and administration > 440706 Health policy @ 70%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2003 Provision of health and support services > 200399 Provision of health and support services not elsewhere classified @ 30% 23 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 2305 Work and labour market > 230501 Employment patterns and change @ 30% 23 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 2399 Other law, politics and community services > 239999 Other law, politics and community services not elsewhere classified @ 40%
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