Northern Territory Primary Health Network (NT PHN) incorporating Rural Workforce Agency Northern Territory (RWA NT) has launched the ‘Health Workforce Needs Assessment 2025 – GP Workforce’, a comprehensive report that outlines the critical challenges and opportunities facing primary healthcare workforce development in the Northern Territory.
The report provides an in-depth analysis of the GP workforce across the NT, highlighting high vacancy rates, recruitment and retention challenges, and the need for place-based, culturally safe workforce solutions.
NT PHN CEO, Paul Connolly, said the findings are both a call to action and a roadmap for strengthening primary healthcare access in the NT.
“The needs are urgent, and the stakes are high, but the opportunities for real, lasting change are within our reach,” Mr Connolly said.
“This report is more than a snapshot, it’s a commitment to working in genuine partnership with communities, health services, educators and government to grow and sustain a skilled, supported and locally grounded primary healthcare workforce.”
Four strategic priorities have been identified to guide future investment and policy; developing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GP workforce; enhancing career pathways to and through primary healthcare; building capacity to attract and retain the existing workforce, and developing locally responsive and sustainable models of care.
The comprehensive assessment draws on workforce surveys, health service consultations and national data to inform its evidence-based recommendations. The report demonstrates geographic isolation, limited social infrastructure and the unique challenges of remote practices as some of the major reasons for workforce shortages.
While Covid-19 has intensified these challenges with international and interstate border closures disrupting the arrival of international medical graduates and locum support, this lasting impact led the RWA NT to conduct its first GP-specific analysis since before 2020.
The report shows many GPs leave due to demanding workloads, housing difficulties, high turnover, burnout, professional isolation and administrative burdens.
The proposed solutions include targeted recruitment campaigns, expanded financial incentives, streamlined pathways for international graduates and strengthened partnerships with medical schools.
The assessment also highlights the need to develop healthcare approaches tailored to the NT’s diverse communities and remote regions by developing locally responsive care models, multidisciplinary teams and flexible workforce arrangements like job sharing.
The report calls for coordinated strategies involving government, health services and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to ensure equitable, culturally safe care for all Territorians.
Read the full report here.
