Source data:
Mental Health Workforce 2019 tables (490KB XLXS)
Work characteristics
Just over 9 in 10 (92.3%) FTE psychiatrists reported their principal role as a clinician in 2019, followed by administrator (3.2%), researcher (1.6%), teacher or educator (1.5%) and other (1.3%). The most common work setting was hospital (27.3%), followed by solo private practice (23.0%), and community mental health service (20.0%). In the overall medical practitioner workforce, hospital (excluding outpatient services) is also the most common work setting, followed by group private practice and solo private practice (DoH 2020).
Mental health nursing workforce
In 2019, almost 1 in 15 (24,111 or 7.1%) mental health nurses (including both registered and enrolled nurses) employed in Australia indicated they were working principally in mental health. Over 4 in 5 of these were registered nurses (85.1%) , similar to the total nursing workforce (DoH 2020).
There were 90.2 FTE mental health nurses per 100,000 population working in Australia in 2019, with state and territory rates ranging from 78.5 in the Northern Territory to 105.3 in Western Australia (Figure WK.2). In terms of a clinical role, there were 83.6 clinical FTE mental health nurses per 100,000 population at a national level, with state and territory rates ranging from 72.6 in the Northern Territory to 98.9 in Western Australia.
Remoteness area
Three-quarters of FTE mental health nurses (77.0%) were employed in Major cities in 2019. Major cities had the highest rate of FTE mental health nurses (96.1 FTE per 100,000 population), followed by Inner regional (85.7), Outer regional (56.8), Remote (56.2) and Very remote (34.8) areas. This distribution was different from the overall nursing and midwifery workforce, with the highest rate of FTE nurses found in Remote areas (1,340.8 per 100,000 population), followed by Very remote (1,331.4), Major cities (1,204.5), Inner regional (1,177.3) and Outer regional (1,139.3) areas (DoH 2020).
Hours worked per week
In 2019, mental health nurses reported working an average of 36.0 total hours per week, with averages ranging from 34.3 hours per week in Tasmania to 38.6 hours in the Northern Territory. The average clinical hours worked per week reported by mental health nurses was 33.4 hours at the national level, ranging from 32.2 hours in Tasmania to 35.7 hours in the Northern Territory.
Male mental health nurses worked more total and clinical hours per week on average than female nurses (males: 37.6 total hours and 34.7 clinical hours; females: 35.4 total hours and 32.9 clinical hours) in 2019. Registered nurses worked an average of 36.3 hours per week while enrolled nurses worked an average of 34.3 hours per week. Registered nurses and enrolled nurses worked similar clinical hours of 33.4 and 33.5 average hours per week respectively. Mental health nurses employed in Remote and Very remote areas reported working the highest average total hours (39.7 and 38.9 hours, respectively) and clinical hours (37.7 and 34.9 hours, respectively) per week in 2019.
Characteristics
About 3 in 5 mental health nurses (55.3%) were aged 45 and above in 2019; a third (31.3%) were aged 55 and older and 1 in 20 (6.3%) were aged 65 and over (Figure WK.2.1). The proportion of male nurses is nearly 3 times higher in the mental health nursing workforce when compared to the male proportion of all employed nurses and midwives in Australia (29.2% and 11.3%, respectively) (DoH 2020).
The supply of mental health nurses increased by 7.0% from 2014 to 2019 (from 84.3 FTE per 100,000 population to 90.2). The proportion of female mental health nurses increased slightly over this period (from 68.6% in 2014 to 70.8% in 2019).
Figure 2: Employed mental health nurses, 2014 to 2019