Research provides clues to boost health workforce retention

12 Feb 2025

More than one in 10 practitioners contemplate leaving their workforce

Most Australian health practitioners surveyed say they want to stay in their profession, however more than one in 10 are unsure about their future or have plans to leave within a year, with mental burnout a key reason why.

New research from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), published in the Australian Health Review, identifies the factors driving practitioners’ choices to stay or leave the health workforce, across nine regulated health professions.

Despite a regulated workforce of 920,535 health practitioners in 2024, forecasts predict that the sector will struggle to meet the demands of Australia’s growing and ageing population in coming years.

Ahpra’s Workforce Retention and Attrition Project found the top five reasons influencing practitioners to leave their profession included mental burnout, retirement, feeling undervalued/unrecognised, lack of professional satisfaction, and work no longer being fulfilling.

Chair of the Psychology Board of Australia and Co-convener of the Forum of National Registration and Accreditation Scheme Chairs, Rachel Phillips said improvements in these areas could have a major impact on increasing retention in the health workforce and, importantly, improving the health and wellbeing of practitioners.

‘A resilient health workforce is essential to keeping our communities safe, healthy and growing, and the wellbeing of our practitioners goes hand-in-hand with that,’ she said.

‘These findings highlight the importance of a working environment that is both professionally fulfilling and supportive of practitioner wellbeing – not only for the welfare of our valued practitioners themselves, but also the health needs of the patients they care for.’

The Workforce Retention and Attrition Project examined which factors contribute to a health practitioner’s choice to leave or stay in their profession to help Ahpra understand what underlying influences might be contributing to workforce shortages.

As part of its research, in 2024 Ahpra surveyed 25,752 health practitioners and analysed 10 years of registration data across the Chinese medicine, chiropractic, dental, medical radiation practice, occupational therapy, optometry, osteopathy, paramedicine, and podiatry professions.

It found that although 79 per cent of respondents intended to maintain their registration, more than 3000 (12 per cent) were either unsure or intended to leave their profession. The majority of those intending to leave planned to do so immediately or within the next year.

Enjoying the work, finding fulfillment and meaning in the work, flexibility and work-life balance, the respective health profession being what they trained for and a sense of achievement were the top five reasons practitioners choose to stay, according to the findings.

Ahpra’s analysis of registration data from the last 10 years (2014 to 2023), showed that the number of registered practitioners per 100,000 Australians increased by 30 per cent. The replacement rate showed notable fluctuations over the observed period, peaking in 2020 before declining significantly in 2021, but a partial recovery was observed in 2022 and 2023. Female practitioners consistently exhibited higher replacement rates compared to males.

Ahpra Acting CEO Kym Ayscough said this research underlined areas that are important to focus action to strengthen workforce retention into the future.

‘The more we understand why people choose to stay or leave their health profession, the better placed the health sector is to address these factors within the workforce,’ Ms Ayscough said.

‘This research has identified not only why people are staying or leaving, but who makes up those cohorts, which can be used to inform targeted retention interventions.’

Age, gender, work hours per week, and type of employment were all factors influencing a practitioner’s intentions to stay, leave or be unsure.

Male practitioners were almost twice as likely to intend to leave compared to female practitioners. Practitioners over 60 years were nearly three times more likely to leave and twice as likely to be unsure compared with those aged 35–60 years. They were also twice as likely to leave compared with practitioners under 35 years.

Respondents working less than 20 hours per week were nearly twice as likely to leave or be unsure compared with those working 29–40 hours. Those working more than 50 hours per week were twice as likely to be unsure about staying compared with those working less than 20 hours.

Practitioners who were not self-employed were nearly twice as likely to be unsure about staying in their profession compared with those who were self-employed.

This research has enabled Ahpra to identify specific groups that would benefit from targeted retention strategies and interventions by employers. Addressing underlying personal, professional and workplace factors such as mental burnout, lack of recognition, and working conditions may improve retention of Australian health practitioners.

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• Media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200 or media@ahpra.gov.au