Palliative care services in Australia

In 2022, there were 335 palliative medicine physicians (300 full-time equivalent (FTE)) and 3,700 palliative care nurses (3,300 FTE) employed in Australia, accounting for 0.8% of all employed specialist medical practitioners and 1.0% of all employed nurses and midwives. Among these employed palliative medicine physicians and palliative care nurses (Figure 1):

• 2 in 3 (66%) palliative medicine physicians were women – almost twice as high as for all employed specialist medical practitioners (36%; Table 7). 
• 9 in 10 (91%) palliative care nurses were women – slightly higher than the proportion among all employed nurses and midwives (88%; Table 8). Female palliative care nurses were older than their male counterparts (30% and 18% were aged 55 and over, respectively).
• 5 in 6 (84%) palliative medicine physicians and 5 in 7 (72%) palliative care nurses worked mainly in Major cities. The proportion of palliative care nurses working in regional areas (Inner regional and Outer regional combined) was higher than palliative medicine physicians (27% compared with 16%).
• More than half of palliative medicine physicians and palliative care nurses worked in a hospital setting (70% and 51%, respectively) and most were principally employed as a clinician (93% for palliative medicine physicians and 94% for palliative care nurses, respectively).
• Of the 3,700 palliative care nurses, 5 in 6 (84% or 3,100) were registered nurses only and 13% (500) were enrolled nurses only (Table 1). 

Furthermore, 100 nurse practitioners worked in palliative care with 83 of those employed as a nurse practitioner in 2022 (based on unpublished data provided by the Department of Health and Aged Care). See Dashboards and factsheets on Nursing and Midwifery for further details on Nursing and Midwifery data. 

In addition, according to data from the Medical Board of Australia Registrant, there were 6 paediatric palliative medicine physicians in Australia over the period 01 October 2022 to 31 December 2022, accounting for 0.2% of all physicians with a primary speciality of paediatrics and child health (3,628) over this period (MBA 2022).

Figure 1: Characteristics of employed palliative medicine physicians and palliative care nurses, 2022

Reference

MBA (Medical Board of Australia) (2022) Registrant data, Reporting period: 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022, MBA website, accessed 20 June 2024.