FY27 Hospital Workforce Outlook

74%+^*

of hospitals are prioritising permanent workforce capability into FY27

1 in 3^*

hospital care episodes involve allied health support across the patient journey

175,000+

healthcare professionals across Alor's national workforce database

* As published in the report.

Key findings

• Critical care and acute services

  • ICU
  • CCU
  • HDU
  • ED
  • Acute care

  Increasing patient acuity, emergency demand and workforce fatigue are driving strong demand for experienced ICU, CCU and emergency clinicians across hospital systems nationally.

• Perioperative and procedural services

  • Scrub scout
  • Recovery
  • Anaesthetics
  • Cath lab
  • Endoscopy

  Demand remains as hospitals expand elective surgery activity, procedural capacity and theatre utilisation across public and private healthcare.

• Women's and children's health

  • Birth suite
  • Postnatal
  • Special care nursery
  • NICU

  Persistent FTE gaps, workforce attrition and growing maternity demand are driving competition for experienced midwives across public and private networks.

• Allied health and mental health

  • OT
  • Speech
  • Psychology
  • Sonography
  • Radiography

  A growing focus on patient flow, discharge outcomes and clinical capacity is increasing demand for allied health, mental health and medical imaging professionals.

• A retention-led strategy

  • Retention
  • Vacancy reduction
  • Workforce stability

  Hospital providers are prioritising permanent workforce attraction and retention to reduce reliance on short-term coverage models.

• Regional growth and infrastructure

  • Service delivery
  • Workforce capacity

  Regional hospitals are expanding infrastructure and clinical service capacity, increasing the focus on workforce sustainability and service continuity.

Specialised clinical capability remains one of the most competitive workforce areas across public and private hospital systems nationally.